Gadkari must go

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has demanded party president Nitin Gadkari’s resignation, piling pressure on the embattled leader who faces allegations of corruption related to business dealings of Purti Power and Sugar Ltd.
In a statement, Sinha rejected the clean chit orchestrated by the party recently and said that Gadkari’s continuance as BJP president would impair the party’s campaign against Congress over corruption.
In a frontal assault on Gadkari, Sinha suggested that the party president’s continuation at the helm would pull the party down the integrity chart. He also said the failure to address the issue would harm the party’s credentials.
BJP was, however, quick to dismiss the demand, saying that it was irresponsible of Sinha to issue the public statement. Sinha’s demand, which came just ahead of the winter session of Parliament, underscored the BJP’s handicap in targeting Congress over big-ticket scams. Unlike leading lawyer and Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani, who was dubbed an ‘outsider’ when he fired the first salvo against Gadkari recently, Sinha carries considerable political heft and is a former senior minister who held portfolios of finance and external affairs. Gadkari’s backers may also find it difficult to invent conspiracy theories over the latest attack, unlike the last time when Jethmalani’s statement was sought to be painted as the handiwork of the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. The party’s ideological mentor, RSS, had to then intervene and reject the claims.
In any case, the RSS-appointed in-house auditor S Gurumurthy’s explanation that ‘shell companies’ associated with Purti were part of “usual business practices” has failed to passed muster with many senior leaders in BJP. The party president has also not been able to explain the involvement of his driver, accountant and astrologer in these shell companies. There have also been revelations that Gadkari had business close links with Manish Mehta, who invested Rs 47 crore in Purti. Till 2011, Gadkari was a director in the Mehta-promoted Chintamani Agro. RSS, which has a decisive say in the selection of the party president, however, is yet to make up its mind on Gadkari’s successor.