Poster campaign keeps Modi-Joshi row alive

The Narendra Modi-Sanjay Joshi issue is far from over. Ten days after BharatiyaJanata Party president Nitin Gadkari sacked Mr. Joshi from the national executive under pressure from the Gujarat Chief Minister, mysterious posters have surfaced in Gujarat and here targeting Mr. Modi.

While the BJP maintains that it has no clue to who is behind the poster campaign, senior leaders have conceded that the Modi-Sanjay row has divided the BJP as well as the Sangh Parivar. Influential sections within the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP have openly sympathised with Mr. Joshi, an RSS pracharak and Mr. Modi's bête noire.

According to a senior BJP leader, the poster campaign as well as articles in the mouthpieces of the RSS and the BJP critical of Mr. Modi reflect the divisions within the party and unease over the manner Mr. Gadkari yielded to the Chief Minister.

An article in

Panchjanya , RSS mouthpiece, not only questioned Mr. Modi's style of functioning but also suggested that the issue of the BJP's prime ministerial candidate be decided only after the 2014 general elections — an obvious reference to the race within the party to position oneself as the nominee before the poll.

The posters, which have surfaced in parts of central Delhi, with Joshi's pictures read: Chote man se koi bada nahi hota, tute man se koi bada nahi hota (nobody becomes big with a narrow mind). They go on to say: Kaho dil se... Sanjay Joshi phir se (Say with your heart, Sanjay Joshi once again).” Though name of the Gujarat Chief Minister does not figure in the posters, the reference to the post-Mumbai conclave of the BJP is obvious.

Responding to questions, BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “These were not authorised banners and posters of the party, so I do not have to say anything about them.”

On the pieces in Panchajanya and the BJP's Kamal Sandesh, expressing concern over internal affairs of the party, Mr. Prasad said much should not be read into the articles.

“What appeared in Panchajanya and the Organiser are only the personal views of the author and not of the organisation (RSS). RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav has already clarified this and I as a Swayamsevak of the RSS and Chief spokesperson of the BJP am saying this.”