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Rift in BJP over posters hailing ex-national executive member Sanjay Joshi | Illustrated posters of Sanjay Joshi, the former
national executive member of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), hailing
him at many places across Gujarat and elsewhere in the country, including New
Delhi , accentuated the internal rift within the party on Tuesday. Hundreds of
multi-coloured posters and hoardings eulogising Sanjay Joshi were spotted in Ahmedabad
alone. Speaking to media, Gujarat Congress President Arjunbhai Modhwadia said
it was an internal matter of the BJP. "This is the internal matter of Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) and I don't want to react on it but the Congress ( India 's
ruling party) is based on the strength of the people and we would continue our
work by banking on this same strength," said Modhwadia. Joshi had to resign from
party's national executive to enable his arch adversary, Gujarat state Chief Minister
Narendra Modi, to participate in the national executive meeting of the party in
Mumbai recently. Modhwadia further accused Modi of intolerance towards his detractors,
be they from his own BJP or other parties and cited instances of Modi silencing
his critics. He wished that the BJP took note of such trends. "The Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) has to think over it as Narendra Modi, who had distraught Haren Pandya
(former Home Minister of Gujarat), Keshubhai Patel (former state chief), Dr. A
K Patel (former junior minister for chemicals and fertilisers), Kashiram Rana,
Suresh Mehta (former state chief of Gujarat ) and now Sanjay Joshi and other workers
of the party. It is to be seen to what extent, the party members of BJP will give
liberty to Narendra Modi for getting funds for the state. This has to be decided
by Bharatiya Janata Party. We don't have to deal with that," said Modhwadia. The
move was being viewed as an attempt by BJP to make peace with Modi, who did not
attend the last meeting of the national executive held in New Delhi in December.
Meanwhile, leader and spokesperson of BJP, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi declined to comment
by contending he had not seen the posters yet and even termed that it might be
the work of anti-social elements. "I have not seen the posters till now. It might
be the work of some anti-social elements. I have not seen these as yet," said
Naqvi. Modi was reportedly upset over Joshi's induction in the BJP, and had not
even campaigned for the party in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. According to
political experts, with BJP leader Sanjay Joshi resigning from the party's national
executive, Modi's perceived rift with the central BJP leadership might have ended.
Recently, prior to the Mumbai meeting, Modi had put the condition of attending
the national executive meet only if Joshi resigned from being a member of the
national executive. The meet was important, as it was the first main congregation
of the BJP's top brass ahead of the assembly elections in Gujarat and the northern
Himachal Pradesh, the two BJP-ruled states, scheduled by the year-end. Although
enjoying a high-profile but divisive, Narendra Modi stands apart in a country
that doesn't always make it easy for industrialists as analysts cite the status
of Gujarat state under his reign. Modi, a member of the BJP, has leveraged the
economic success of his state to become a national leader and potential Prime
Ministerial candidate despite accusations of complicity during communal riots
in 2002. However, over the past one year, Modi embarked on series of three-day
fasts to promote 'harmony', which was seen as a way of helping revamp the image
of a leader accused by critics of complicity in religious riots that killed at
least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims in 2002.
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