Addressing his first full-fledged official press conference after taking over the top party post, Gadkari said he has asked organisational secretary Ram Lal to consult state units to find out potential leaders. “They should be automatic self-start engines requiring no guidance or direction,” he said.
Answering a question whether he was under pressure from the senior leaders in regard to the Rajasthan unit of the party, he said he had held consultations with Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu , Ananth Kumar and Arun Jaitley and “solved” it. It was decided that “we would contest the Panchayat elections together,” he said.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had resigned as the leader of opposition party in the state legislature under pressure from Singh. She is hoping to make a come back after Gadkari’s taking over as party President.
Gadkari said party’s ideology and emphasis on three contentious issues — Temple construction, Uniform Civil Code, removal of Article 370 in context of J & K — would remain the same as “change of President does not matter.”
Asked about the RSS control over the organisation, he claimed the RSS “does not give any directions” to the party.
On the crisis in Karnataka which witnessed a political bargaining within the BJP government with the induction and exit of some ministers, Gadkari said the party has to go by “trial and error methods.”
He expects leaders to conduct in a proper manner. A certain amount of “training” is needed and “we will train them.”
The party president said the problem in Karnataka has been resolved. State Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will meet him here on Friday.
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