Gadkari leads BJP team to Prez against Gujarat Guv

After his truce with Narendra Modi, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari led a delegation to President Pratibha Patil to demand the removal of Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal.

After his truce with Narendra Modi, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari led a delegation to President Pratibha Patil to demand the removal of Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal.

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Beniwal is on the firing line of the Gujarat chief minister, who has alleged that she grabbed agricultural land worth Rs. 600 crore in Rajasthan.

The BJP team submitted documents to Patil and drew her attention to an order of the Office of Cooperative Registrar, Jaipur issued on May 2.

Modi had earlier locked horns with Beniwal over the issue of the lokayukta's appointment and later challenged her decision, upheld by the high court, in the Supreme Court.

Interestingly, senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and others were not part of the delegation.

The small team led by the BJP chief to Rashtrapati Bhavan, included BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman, MPs Balbir Punj, Bhupendra Yadav, Arjun Meghwal and party secretary Kirit Somaiya.

Modi and Gadkari made peace after the latter agreed to remove Sanjay Joshi from the BJP national executive.

Gadkari told reporters that "the cooperative registrar, who also has quasi-judicial powers, has said political influence was used to grab the Rajasthan government's land worth Rs. 1,000 crore. The Gujarat governor has occupied part of this land illegally and it should be taken back."

The BJP leaders asked the President to intervene in the matter, and either ask Beniwal to resign or remove her.

"A criminal case cannot be registered against Beniwal by the Rajasthan government as long as she is a governor. BJP has appealed to the President to withdraw her pleasure and direct Kamla Beniwal to step down as Gujarat governor pending a thorough probe into the scandal," Gadkari said.