JOIN USModi wins as Sanjay Joshi quits
The two-day national executive meet of the Bharatiya Janata Party kickstarted on Thursday, with Sanjay Joshi resigning from the BJP core committee.
Till noon, committee members were busy formulating amendments to ensure a second term for party president Nitin Gadkari. However, Modi remained conspicuous by his absence. He had also skipped the December 2011 executive meet, expressing displeasure at Gadkari mollycoddling Sanjay Joshi, his bete noire.
Joshi, Gadkari’s aide and Modi’s critic, dashed off a letter to the party president expressing his desire to “resign from the committee in the larger interest of the party.”
Grapevine has it that Modi, who was reportedly upset with Gadkari for appointing Joshi the in-charge of the UP Assembly election, “confirmed his attendance” after being apprised of Joshi’s resignation.
Joshi, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker, shot to prominence in 2005, after a CD showing him in compromising position landed. A controversy ensued leading to his resignation.
In the past few months, the Modi and Gadkari camps have apparently drifted apart.
The present meet was organised to “chalk out a broader strategy” and plan for the ensuing Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the two BJP-ruled states.
Party sources said the meet was held in Mumbai because of Modi’s proximity to the party's local leaders, predominantly from the Gujarati community. Modi has also agreed to address a public rally in Mumbai on Friday evening with other party leaders, sources added.