No Modi wave, it’s only a wave for BJP, says Joshi
Kicking off a fresh controversy, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, in subtle comments directed at the party’s PM candidate Narendra Modi, said on Sunday that there was “no Modi wave” across India, only “a BJP wave”.
He also suggested the “Gujarat model” of development might not work across all states.
Dr Joshi, who headed the BJP manifesto committee and had to make way for Mr Modi in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, said the BJP’s PM candidate was a “representative” of the party for the highest political office, and was getting support across the country and from BJP leaders.
The BJP leader said the Gujarat model of development pushed by Mr Modi “cannot be made applicable for all states”. He also said he didn’t favour a “straitjacket” model of one particular state.
“Mr Modi is a representative of the party as a PM candidate... So it is not a highly personalised thing (the wave). It is a representative wave. He gets support from different parts of India, all sections of society and from all BJP leaders,” Dr Joshi said.
DC CORRESPONDENTS On the expulsion of Jaswant Singh, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said “this episode could have been avoided”.
He said the decision to deny him (Jaswant) a ticket from Barmer was not taken by the central election committee, of which he is a member, but by party chief Rajnath Singh and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje.
Asked about Dr Joshi’s remarks, senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said he would react only after going through Dr Joshi’s comments.
On the Gujarat model, Dr Joshi had said, “It is now the development model of the country as presented by the BJP. In a country like India, what development model is true for Jammu and Kashmir or Arunachal Pradesh... may not be true for Kerala. So to say that this model or that model — no... So some good points may be there, some good points from the government of Tripura will also be there, it is not some straitjacket model.”
The Gujarat model is now the development model of the country as presented by the BJP. In a country like India, what development model is true for Jammu and Kashmir or Arunachal Pradesh may not be true for Kerala.
— MURLI MANOHAR JOSHI