Gadkari criticises Congress over Telangana issue

BJP national president Nitin Gadkari today criticised Congress for its way of handling the situation in Andhra Pradesh.

BJP national president Nitin Gadkari today criticised Congress for its way of handling the situation in Andhra Pradesh.

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"Congress is unable to handle the situation in Andhra Pradesh and has set the whole state on fire," Gadkari said here on his first visit to the city after taking charge of the party chief.

On the question of separate Vidarbha, Gadkari said "We are in favour of small states. Atal Biharijee successfully carved Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. But Congress has failed to handle issue of separate Telangana."

Gadkari sought to boost the morale of the party activists by saying that they are the real strength of the party and he also started his political career as a small party worker.

"It is possible only in a party like BJP that a small worker has become the national President. Therefore, I would not forget the state from where I started my career," said Gadkari, who hails from Nagpur.

In the backdrop of the BJP's defeat in Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls, Gadkari remarked that a man is not finished when he loses, but when he quits.

The 52-year-old former Minister assured the activists to increase the party votes by 10 per cent in next polls and focus on poor people in the society.

BJP MP Gopinath Munde, who has been recently given charge of Deputy Leader of the party in Lok Sabha, said his responsibility is to prepare the party for polls in 2014.