Gadkari has been criticizing his own govt, how far he goes with his dissent remains to be seen
After Nitin Gadkari the former BJP president was dropped from the BJP parliamentary board, one of the party's key decision making body it was clear that internal politics of the party was simmering and the ouster of Nitin Gadkari was a clear indication of that. Not too long ago Ravi Shankar Prasad was dropped from the cabinet. Both the leaders are from Advani camp and his admirers. LK Advani along with Murli Manohar Joshi happens to be in the Margdarshak Mandal, group of senior BJP leaders who are supposed to give vision to the party. But actually the 'mandal' is the glorified resting place for the BJP leaders who have outlived their relevance in the party. Now it looks like that a few more leaders might be joining the club sooon. However, Nitin Gadkari is no walkover and is a go-getter and as a minister of Road transport and highways his work speaks for itself. Though he has not been close to the prime minister but his proximity to RSS top brass is well established as he hails from Nagpur, the place where RSS headquarters is located.
Since Gadkari is a former BJP president, so his drop was not following the conventions as former chiefs have always been on it. Even earlier Gadkari had been showing his displeasure with party's top brass and had said that today's politics was more about power-play and that at times he thought of quitting politics. Gadkari after his recent jibe also said that the BJP's rise to power could be credited to Mr Vajpayee, LK Advani and Deendayal Upadhyaya. That he would not be sidelined so easily was apparent when the Gadkari, took a jibe at his own government saying the government is 'not taking decisions in time'. Even earlier Gadkari have been vocal about his displeasure with the functioning of the government albeit in a mild manner. However his recent salvo is rather a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and counters his claim of his government's success in crossing big milestones in 'Amrit Kaal' or golden era. One thing is for sure if Gadkari was taking a dig at the government he had backing of the RSS. But how far he can walk on the road of dissent remains to be seen as the party's top brass led by Prime Minister Modi is firmly saddled and the leaders of erstwhile era are either marginalized or subdued.