BJP denies rift regarding Reddy bros

BJP president Nitin Gadkari stepped in to the resolve the highly public rift between Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley by issuing a statement on Saturday that any debate on the choice of ministers in Karnataka was "totally unnecessary''. Gadkari said so after former party president Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa claimed responsibility for inducting the controversial mining magnates, the Reddy brothers, into the Karnataka cabinet.u00a0 Swaraj, widely perceived to be close to the Reddy brothers, told a news magazine in an interview that Arun Jaitley, Yeddyurappa, M Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar had decided to induct Janardhan and Karunakar Reddy into the cabinet.

The remarks, which brought to fore the differences in second generation leadership in the party, forced Rajnath Singh and Yeddyurappa to claim responsibility.While Swaraj and Jaitley remained mum on the issue, Gadkari came out with a sharp statement, stating that there was "absolutely no question of any individual or individuals influencing this process in any particular manner".

This is the second time that Gadkari appeared to openly snub Swaraj for her public statements. Earlier, in March, Gadkari had contradicted Swaraj, when she said she was satisfied with PM Manmohan Singh's statement on the controversy surrounding appointment of PJ Thomas as CVC and the matter should be closed.

In Saturday's statement, Gadkari said BJP is a democratic party and always follows the democratic procedure of government-formation in states when it is returned to power. "The party leader is elected by the BJP legislature party in the presence of a team of central observers. The chief minister, exercises his constitutional prerogative to form his cabinet in consultation with the party's central and state leadership," Gadkari said.

"It is the considered position of BJP that all our cabinet ministers in Karnataka government are the unanimous choice of the party, both central as well as the state, and are equally capable and committed to providing good governance to the people of Karnataka," Gadkari added.