PANAJI: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said the BJP has been a different kind of party and that is why it has repeatedly won the trust of voters, but warned that the saffron party should not repeat the mistakes made by the Congress in the past that saw it exit power.
“If we continue to do what the Congress used to do, then there will be no point in their exit and our entry,” Gadkari stressed in comments that came more than a month after the BJP failed to secure a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha elections.
Gadkari was addressing a Goa BJP executive meeting near Panaji, which was attended by party state unit president Sadanand Tanavade and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant among other leaders.
In his 40-minute speech, the Union minister recalled his mentor and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani’s statement that “the BJP is a different party”.
“Advaniji used to say that we are a different party. We have to understand how different we are from other parties,” the former BJP president said.
The Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur said people had elected the BJP because of the Congress’s mistakes and warned that his party should not make the same mistakes.
“If we make the same mistakes, then there will be no point in their exit and our entry,” Gadkari said.
“Therefore, in the coming days, party cadres must know that politics is an instrument to achieve social and economic reforms,” he said.
Gadkari stressed that “We (BJP) have to create a corruption-free country and for that we must have a plan in place.”
Referring to politics in neighbouring Maharashtra, Gadkari argued that in his home state there is a tendency to play politics on caste lines (jativadi rajkaran).
“I have decided not to follow this trend. I have told people that I will not get involved in caste-based politics (jaat-paat). Jo karega jaat ki baat, usko padegi kaske laath (anyone who talks about caste will get a hard kick),” he warned.
Gadkari said that a person is known by the values he possesses and not by his caste.
In a message to Goa BJP cadres, Gadkari urged them to visit all constituencies and strengthen the organisation so that the party can retain power after the 2027 assembly elections.
