BJP senior leader Venkaiah Naidu flies down to soothe some and ruffle other tempers after party city chief's photo was omitted from the poll booklet compiled by party advocate Ashish Shelar
BJP senior leader Venkaiah Naidu flies down to soothe some and ruffle other tempers after party city chief's photo was omitted from the poll booklet compiled by party advocate Ashish Shelar
The controversy that began after party city chief Raj Purohit's picture was excluded from the poll booklet compiled by BMC group leader of the party Ashish Shelar refuses to die down.
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Naidu who flew down to Mumbai from Delhi to put an end to the infighting was upset throughout his stay in the city at the unsavoury development right before the civic polls.
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He held two closed-door meetings at the party's headquarters in Dadar, one with the office bearers of the party's Mumbai unit, and another with the office bearers of all the districts in the Mumbai BJP.
According to an insider, who was present at both the meetings, an irate Naidu berated Shelar. "In the first meeting, there were only the office bearers of the Mumbai unit with Purohit, Shelar, secretaries, general secretaries, vice presidents and others.
Shelar got an earful from Naiduji, who said he wasn't ready to accept that Purohit's photo was missing from the booklet by accident. He asked Shelar to behave in a spirit of unity and work cooperatively for the party to win the election."
MiD DAY's January 20 report
"If Sena leaders and especially if Sena's Aaditya Thackeray can find a place in the BJP poll booklet, it does look bad that its own party chief's picture is missing," said a party leader.
Sources said that Shelar did not take the rap very graciously. He left the other meeting called by Naidu midway. "At the beginning of the second meeting, Naiduji said, 'This is no state election that I have to fly down every time to Mumbai to see to it that leaders behave themselves'," said a party office bearer.
Naidu was also livid with the party members' asking for seats for their wives and kin. A party insider said, "Naiduji said that this party won't let any pati-patni business in the party. He also said that there won't be any discussion related to tickets for relatives."
The pro-Purohit camp even asked Naidu to keep Shelar away from any election meeting. Naidu assured them that their leader would be consulted for any poll-related activity. Shelar was unavailable for comment.
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