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Gadkari Defends New Team, Says No Pressure from RSS

In spite of both silent and open attack from within, BJP president Nitin Gadkari has strongly defended his choice of the persons he has inducted in his new team, said media reports.

As for controversial inclusion of Varun Gandhi as secretary, Gadkari told a TV news channel: “Varun Gandhi should be given a chance, why hold the past against him?”

“Those who have complaints about the new team should speak to me, not the media,” the BJP president said, in an indirect reference to partymen like actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who had deplored the new president for leaving out ‘the most deserving people’.

The actor had, in particular, spoken against exclusion of eminent leader Yashwant Sinha, saying that the team was formed without consulting ‘people who matter like my friend and leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj and some other top leaders’.

Countering the charges, Gadkari said, “It’s wrong to say that Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie were excluded because they are Advani detractors… It’s not possible to include everyone on the team.”

Gadkari, who reportedly scrambled for sanction from the Sangh for his list of new office-bearers hours before its announcement, said that he had no pressure from the RSS on team selection, said reports.

About inclusion of celebrities, he was quoted as saying: “The celebrities we included are also committed party workers, they are not just celebrities.”

Analysts believe that taking in celebrities like Hema Malini as Vice President and Navjyot Singh Sindhu and Smriti Irani as Secretaries is a strategy to revive and re-popularise the BJP. The Sangh’s choice of workers is not personality-based.

(Based on internet reports)

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