In a major organizational reshuffle, the Bharatiya Janata Party dropped Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from its parliamentary board, the party’s highest decision-making body. Nitin Gadkari has not exactly been comfortable in the company of Modi-Shah duo. A once vocal president of Bharatiya Janata Party, Gadkari has comparatively been, if not silent, quiet for some time. In the last three years one could see a different Gadkari than the nation had known as pushing forward vigorously the party agenda.
Gadkari’s performance as minister speaks for itself. I remember his keenness to learn from New York traffic control authorities how best traffic could be managed in Indian metropolitan cities. He spent a couple of hours to study the system at the Traffic control in New York. His passion to speed up work of construction of roads and bridges, the department he holds (Gadkari is Minister for Road Transport and Highways), is evident from the fact that he not only met the targets but met them in advance of the deadlines. A man who believes in action rather than in making tall claims, he is probably the best man in Modi’s cabinet. Why should Gadkari, a former President of the BJP and a performing senior minister in Modi cabinet be dropped from the Party’s highest policy making body- the BJP Parliamentary Board?
Well, it is a clear signal to RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat that he does not control power; the power lies with Modi-Shah duo. The first clear indication came when, in a dramatic move, a Bhagwat favorite Devendra Fadnavis, was restrained from becoming the chief minister of Maharashtra when even the announcement about his oath taking was almost made.
And now comes the exclusion of Gadkari. One should not be surprised if a performing chief minister of UP whose model of governance came in for much appreciation and which is being sought to be replicated by many BJP chief ministers in their states, has failed to find favor with the BJP leadership of Modi-Shah duo because of his being a protégé of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Clearly, Modi who is known to be ruthless with his perceived rivals, has conveyed to RSS chief who really controls the knobs of power Surely, all is not well in Modiland.
