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  Metros   Mumbai  23 Dec 2018  Strong leaders must take responsibility, says Gadkari

Strong leaders must take responsibility, says Gadkari

THE ASIAN AGE.
Published : Dec 23, 2018, 1:42 am IST
Updated : Dec 23, 2018, 1:42 am IST

Mr Gadkari was addressing an Awards ceremony of the Pune District Coo-perative Bank Association.

Nitin Gadkari
 Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai: Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s comment that ‘leadership must take responsibility for failures too’ has led to speculation within political circles. While Mr Gadkari made the comment while addr-essing a meeting of cooperative mills, it is being seen in the light of BJP’s recent defeat in three state Assembly elections.

Mr Gadkari was addres-sing an Awards ceremony of the Pune District Coo-perative Bank Associati-on. “When any candidate loses an election, he points fingers at other things such as lack of support, money, etc. This is not right. Like we take credit for victory, we must take responsibility for defeats as well,” he said.

While Mr Gadkari made these statements on a non-political stage, they are being viewed in the light of the BJP’s recent defeat in three Hindi heartland states.

Interestingly, Prime Mi-nister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah have accepted defeat. However, no one in the party is holding them accountable for the defeat till now. Against this bac-kdrop, Mr Gadkari’s statement has surprised all.

This week itself, Kishor Tiwari, a farmer activist from Vidarbha wrote a letter to Rashtriya Sway-amsevak Sangh supremo Mohan Bhagwat, asking for Mr Gadkari to be made the leader of the party. Mr Tiwari blamed Mr Modi and Mr Shah for the recent defeat.

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, however, dismissed speculation that Mr Gadkari was being projected as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While Mr Sinha has been extremely critical of Mr Modi and Mr Shah, he said that no one had the courage to go against them which is why it was impossible that Mr Gadkari would get an opportunity to become the prime ministerial candidate.

“Yes, there are speculations and theories making the rounds that if the BJP gets less numbers in the Lok Sabha polls, Mr Gadkari will be the option before the party… but I reject the theory as those who are making these speculations viral are forgetting that two people have such a hold on the party that a third person cannot come ahead of them,” said Mr Sinha during his recent visit to Pune.

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