Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday cautioned against the BJP repeating the same mistakes of the Congress, which led to their ouster from power. Gadkari stated that the BJP's unique identity as a party consistently earned voters' trust as he invoked party veteran LK Advani’s remark that "BJP is a party with a difference."
Addressing a top-level party meeting in Goa, the minister said, "If we continue doing what the Congress used to do, then there is no use of their exit and our entry.”
Gadkari’s comments came more than a month after the BJP failed to secure a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha elections.
At the meeting of the Goa BJP executive, which was attended by the party's state unit president Sadanand Tanavade and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, the Union Minister referred to his mentor and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani's statement that the "BJP is a party with a difference".
"Advani Ji used to say that we are a party with a difference. We have to understand how different we are from other parties,” Gadkari said, noting that people have elected the BJP because of the Congress' mistakes.
"If we commit the same mistakes, then there is no use in their exit and our entry. That is why, in the days to come, party cadres should know that politics is an instrument of bringing social and economic reforms," news agency PTI quoted the minister as saying.
He also called for a proper plan for the party to create a “corruption-free country”.
Gadkari also argued against doing politics along caste lines, especially referring to politics in adjoining Maharashtra. “I have decided not to follow this trend. I have told people that I will not indulge in caste-based politics (jaat-paat). Jo karega jaat ki baat, usko padegi kaske laath (those who will speak about caste will get a strong kick)," he stressed.
Published On:
Jul 13, 2024
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