Modi, Joshi rivalry spills over to the streets of Ahmedabad - indiatoday.intoday.in
The war that had started in the late 1990s between the two pracharaks of the RSS is now playing out in Gujarat once again. And coming ahead of the crucial assembly election, the spectacle is only adding to the ongoing political circus.
In a guerilla-style attack on state BJP, in other words Narendra Modi, posters hailing his bete noire, Sanjay Joshi, were put up in several parts of Ahmedabad on Tuesday. The posters took potshots at the chief minister and his display of pettiness in seeking Joshi's resignation ahead of the BJP national executive, as well as subsequently barring him from travelling through Gujarat by train.
The posters didn't name Narendra Modi, but one of them said: "No one with a small heart becomes great or stands up with a broken one." The poster resurrected a half-a-decade old slogan, which was used by Joshi's supporters demanding his re-induction into the party. Another poster decried autocracy and asked whether it was the BJP's policy to seek resignation of one leader to appease another?
Interestingly, the posters also carried the lotus, the election symbol of the BJP.
When contacted, Joshi told Mail Today that he had no idea about who could have put up these posters. "But whosoever has done this cannot be a well-wisher of the BJP," he said.
Meanwhile, caught in an uncomfortable situation, the state BJP workers scampered for cover when asked about the posters.
The rivalry between Modi and Joshi dates back to the 1990s. Joshi, an RSS pracharak from Maharashtra had landed in Ahmedabad in the late 80s and worked with Modi for about five years in the state. Modi was the party general-secretary during that period.
BJP formed its first government in Gujarat in 1995 under the chief ministership of Keshubhai Patel and it was in the same year that the powerful Kshatriya leader Shankarsinh Vaghela staged a revolt, which led to the ouster of Modi from Gujarat. While BJP returned to power in 1998, Modi was desperate to return to Gujarat, but Joshi reportedly put a spanner in his plans.
While Modi got his way around and managed to return to Gujarat by upstaging Keshubhai in 2001, Joshi was moved to the centre by the party high-command as the party general-secretary. However, a sleaze CD allegedly featuring Joshi surfaced in 2005 just ahead of the silver jubilee celebration of BJP, which led to Joshi's resignation from the party. Investigations later concluded that the CD was fabricated.
After spending six years in political wilderness, Joshi was re-inducted into the party by BJP president Nitin Gadkari last year, which made Modi sulk. The Gujarat CM refrained from campaigning for the party in Uttar Pradesh, where Joshi was given the responsibility of managing the election, and it took nothing short of his resignation to make Modi attend the national executive of the party in Mumbai last month.
Gordhan Zadafia, the former Gujarat minister of state for home and president of MahaGujarat Janata Party (MJP), a splinter group of the BJP, explained the posters as an explosion of the sentiments of BJP workers in the state.
Liverpool chief takes swipe at comedian Whelan - Football
Published: 05 Jun 2012 - 13:17:09
Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has hit back at Dave Whelan after the Wigan chairman criticised the Reds' handling of their search for a new manager.
Ayre is angry that Whelan went public with details of Liverpool's interest in Wigan boss Roberto Martinez before the Anfield club eventually hired Brendan Rodgers from Swansea.
Whelan claimed Liverpool had offered Martinez the job as long as he was willing to accept a director of football working above him.
But Ayre insisted Rdogers was always their first choice and responded by taking a swipe at Whelan's constant appearances in the English media.
"Our aim from the outset was to conduct a proper, thorough, search, and do it in the proper manner," Ayre told the Liverpool Echo.
"From our point of view, we did all the right things. We approached the clubs we needed to approach, and conducted ourselves properly at all times.
"It is disappointing, then, that Dave Whelan felt the need to run the kind of sideshow he conducted via Sky Sports News and various other media outlets.
"To be honest, I always thought (stand-up comic) John Bishop was the biggest comedian in the north west, but Dave Whelan seems to have taken that mantle over the last couple of weeks!"
Liverpool's American owners, Fenway Sports Group, were linked with a host of managers after they sacked Kenny Dalglish last month and some critics suggested they should have spoken to just one target rather than trying to conduct interviews with several candidates.
That process was initially said to have convinced Rodgers to snub Liverpool's interest before he later changed his mind, but Ayre believes it was right to conduct the most comprehensive search possible.
"It is important to understand that we ran a proper search to find a new manager, and that part of that involved us speaking to a number of candidates," he said.
"We make no secret of the fact we spoke with Roberto Martinez, but that is all we did. He is a great guy, and I can't speak highly enough of his professionalism and conduct.
"But for his chairman to make suggestions like he has, and suggestions that just aren't true, well it is disappointing to say the least.
"We can say with absolute certainty that the only person who was made any offer by Liverpool Football Club is Brendan Rodgers."
0 Responses to "Modi, Joshi rivalry spills over to the streets of Ahmedabad - indiatoday.intoday.in"
Post a Comment