Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari recently appeared in a Marathi talk show. In the show, he said that BJP, before 2014, made tall and unrealistic promises never thinking that they would actually come to power.
This has caused the party a major embarrassment and the opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, posted the particular snippet from the program on Twitter. In the caption to the video, Rahul Gandhi wrote that you are right (Gadkari). Even the people think that the BJP used their dreams and faith for the party’s gain to come to power.”
सही फ़रमाया, जनता भी यही सोचती है कि सरकार ने लोगों के सपनों और उनके भरोसे को अपने लोभ का शिकार बनाया है| pic.twitter.com/zhlKTrKHgU
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 9, 2018
However, later he clarified that he was speaking of 2014 Maharashtra election where allegedly Devendra Fadnavis and Gopinath Munde were discussing a poll promise of reducing toll plaza fees. Gadkari had then told them that it would be difficult to implement and that they should not make such tall promises.
“People remind of our promises, we laugh and move on”
On the show which was aired earlier this month had Nitin Gadkari as a guest with actor Nana Patekar. Gadkari during the show said, “We were very confident that we can never come to power. So our people suggested us to make tall promises. If we don’t come to power, we won’t be responsible anyway. Now people remind us of our promises…we just laugh and move on”.
While answering another question, Gadkari admitted that the party needs to be more open and transparent to the public.
Clarifying his stance on the comment, Gadkari on October 11 said that he went to the Marathi show about 78 days back. He stated that his comment on the tall promises part was actually referring to the Maharashtra 2014 elections. He said he objected to poll promise made about reducing toll prizes, “I objected to it by saying that it would be very tough to implement and hence we should not make such a promise. I mentioned to them that we have mostly been in the opposition and have less experience of being in power, hence we face some issues while making poll promises,” as reported by NDTV.
He further added that he keeps the poll promises. He said that he never question PM Modi. Also taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi, he asked, “Since when does Rahul Gandhi understand Marathi?”
Past incidents
Earlier he was at an event held at New Delhi where he was taking questions. Journalist Barkha Dutt asked him why his party members were moving from the grave issues and rather “entangled in non-productive issues” like that of beef-eating, etc. To this Gadkari replied that the party has for long been in opposition, so it would take some time to move from that mentality.
https://www.facebook.com/rajiv.personal/posts/10160699467305176
In August, when there were ongoing agitations by the Marathas for reservation, Gadkari said that there are no jobs. He said, “Let’s us assume the reservation is given. But there are no jobs.”
