Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday that he is not in the race for the post of Prime Minister and termed himself as a “pure RSS” man for whom the nation is supreme.
The senior BJP leader said that his party would get an absolute majority in the upcoming general election and the country would go ahead on the path of development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi while “we are standing behind him”.
Reacting to speculations that in case of a fractured mandate, he would be the BJP’s consensus prime ministerial candidate, the Minister said at a conclave organised by a media group that it is like “Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne” (daydreaming).
“I have nothing to do with it. I am not in the race. Modi ji is the PM and will become Prime Minister again. I am from the RSS. Our mission is to work for the nation. The country is progressing in terms of development and growth under Modiji’s leadership. I have come as a supporter in this work and will do whatever work is assigned to me for the country. Where does the question of my becoming PM arise?” he said.
Asserting that “I am not a calculating politician”, Mr. Gadkari said he spoke whatever he felt from within. “Neither do I dream it, nor is any liaisoning or PR,” he said.
Asked why he is seen as the Opposition’s favourite man in the government, Mr. Gadkari said he is a workaholic. “Whoever comes to me, my thinking remains positive. I tell my officials, ‘He has come to me… that means he has some problem. Keep a positive approach and solve it. If not possible say why it cannot be done.’ I do not behave as per political calculations. This is my natural behaviour and that is why opponents also become friends,” he said.
‘Not enemies’
The Union Minister played down talk about the BJP striving for a “Congress- mukt Bharat”, saying the ideologies of both the parties are different and “we are not enemies of each other”.
“A difference of opinion can be there... it is our tradition,” he said.
