Modi to attend BJP National Executive after Joshi's exit

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will attend the National Executive beginning in Mumbai on Thursday, according to media reports. The decision came after party president Nitin Gadkari spoke to him. Video

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will attend the National Exective beginning in Mumbai on Thursday, according to media reports. According to reports, the decision came after party president Nitin Gadkari spoke to him.

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Earlier today, BJP leader Sanjay Joshi, bete noire of the Gujarat CM, resigned ahead of the party National Executive meeting beginning in Mumbai, a move seen as an effort by the party president to buy peace with Narendra Modi.

"Joshi, who was invitee member of the National Executive, has in a letter to party president Nitin Gadkari said that he is relinquishing his post in the larger interest of the party," BJP sources said hours before the inauguration of the two day conclave.

The move by Gadkari is significant as the shadow of Modi could have hung over the conclave as speculation had mounted over the Gujarat strongman's absence amid no
official word from Gandhinagar.

Modi had also not attended the last meeting of the National Executive held in Delhi in December apparently peeved over the induction of Joshi into Uttar Pradesh election campaign by Gadkari. He had also not campaigned in the UP polls.

The Executive meeting is significant as it would be the first major gathering of the BJP top brass ahead of the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the two party-ruled states, scheduled by the year-end.