Nitin Gadkari, who was removed from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) parliamentary board last week, credited the efforts of previous leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani for helping the party gain power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gadkari said, “Atal ji, Advani ji, Deendayal Upadhyay ji, and several other karyakartas worked so hard that today we have risen to power under Modi ji’s leadership at the Center and in many states.” Gadkari was speaking at an event of the Lakshmanrao Mankar Smruti Sanstha, an educational institution in Nagpur.
Speaking to the crowd, the member of Parliament (MP) from Nagpur, who oversees road transportation and highways for the union government, cited remarks made by Atal Behari Vajpayee at a meeting in Mumbai’s Bandra neighbourhood many years ago, when “the party’s condition was dismal.” According to the Union Minister, this was his first time attending a BJP gathering.
“Atal ji got up for his speech and he said, ‘I can see that the sun is setting’,” Gadkari recalled.
Gadkari quoted Vajpayee, who took office as prime minister in 1998, as stating, “The darkness will vanish, the sun will rise, and the lotus will bloom.”
