Nitin Gadkari only one in BJP with guts, tweets Rahul Gandhi, then adds a request

Addressing former workers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), student wing of RSS, Nitin Gadkari had said that those who cannot do that “cannot manage the country”.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi described Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as the only person in the BJP having guts, after the Union minister told former ABVP workers to fulfil their domestic responsibilities before working for the party or the country.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi described Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as the only person in the BJP having guts. (PTI)

Addressing former workers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), student wing of RSS, Gadkari had said that those who cannot do deliver at home, “cannot manage the country”.

“I meet many people who say we want to devote our lives for the BJP, for the country. I asked (one such person) what do you do, and who all are there in your family. He said I have closed my shop as it was not doing well... there is wife at home, children. I said (to him) first take care of your home, because one who cannot manage his home cannot manage the country,” Gadkari had said.

Rahul Gandhi tagged a media report on the minister’s remark on Twitter, praised his courage and came up with a list of three topics that he wanted the minister to speak about.

The Rafale fighter jet deal was on the top of this list.

Rahul Gandhi and his party have been attacking the Modi government over the deal, accusing the Centre of going for an overpriced jet and giving the offset contract to businessman Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence. French aviation firm Dassault Aviation, Reliance Defence and the governments in Delhi and France have consistently denied the allegations.

The Congress leader has also criticised the ruling party’s alleged neglect of farmers and for allegedly controlling institutions of the government.

This isn’t the first time that Gadkari’s comments have been used by the BJP’s rivals to target the party. Like when the minister told his audience at an event by a Pune cooperative bank on the importance of taking responsibility.

“The responsibility of the failures should be taken by the leadership and in absence of such owning of the failure their loyalty and commitment towards the organisation,” the minister said.

It was a statement that was immediately linked to the BJP’s stunning loss of power in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the state elections in December, given that there had been no unequivocal statement from the BJP brass taking responsibility for the defeat.

Gadkari later issued a formal statement to underscore that his comments had been twisted “to create a wedge between me and the BJP leadership”.

On another occasion, Gadkari left red faces in the party when he stressed on the futility of Maratha community demanding reservations last year. The minister reasoned that this would not help because employment opportunities in the country are shrinking rapidly, a remark that appeared to back the opposition narrative that the BJP-led national coalition had not delivered on its election promise of generating jobs.