The BJP was left red-faced on Tuesday when a popular Maharashtra farmer leader urged the RSS to appoint Union minister Nitin Gadkari the prime minister if the saffron party wants to win the Lok Sabha polls next year. The demand from Kishore Tiwari, the chairman of Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission (VNSSM)— a state government panel—came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Maharashtra to attend a few events.
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The Congress wasted no time to grab the opportunity to further embarrass the BJP as the party's social media head Divya Spandana posted a news report of the demand on her Twitter handle. "So now @nitin_gadkari to replace @narendramodi @BJP4India," she tweeted and posted a news report of the demand.
Tiwari made the demand in a letter to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in which he claimed that the drubbing the party faced in the recent assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh was due to the attitude of "arrogant leaders" who implemented anti-people decisions like demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax. In his letter, he further claimed that leaders with dictatorial attitude are dangerous for the society as well as the country.
According to media reports, earlier Tiwari had made a demand for the ouster of both PM Modi and party chief Amit Shah because of their anti-people policies.