Nitin Gadkari under fire again as Mahesh Jethmalani quits

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has termed the resignation of its leader Mahesh Jethmalani from the National Executive as public posturing, reflecting a big crisis for the party over divisions on giving a second term to Nitin Gadkari as the president. This came after Jethmalani submitted his resignation saying he could not work under Gadkari and called his comments on Swami Vivekanand the last straw.

Jethmalani quit the decision making body of the party, maintaining that he could not continue to morally serve as long as Gadkari remained the BJP president. Jethmalani, a senior lawyer, is the son of BJP leader Ram Jethmalani, who has also asked for Gadkari's resignation.

Speaking to mediapersons, Jethmalani said, "I resigned on two core issues – controversy around Gadkari and his explanation about his statement on Swami Vivekanand was unsatisfactory."

He further said, "Facts are there by which to gauge if such a person should continue as a public servant…this is not the opinion of the RSS or the party, this is my personal view on serving under Gadkari."

The move by Jethmalani evoked a sharp reaction from the BJP, which termed his resignation as posturing. The party also pointed that the BJP president had himself submitted to an inquiry.

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, "Mr Nitin Gadkari has himself submitted himself to an inquiry…if a member has any issue, would have been better if the matter was raised in the party. Going to the press is public posturing."

The BJP president is facing charges of irregularities in the funding of his Purti group of industries. However, the party has decided to rally behind him and has maintained that there has been no wrongdoing on the part of Gadkari.