Gadkari, Chouhan’s name dropped in parliamentary rejig

Nagpur: In a parliamentary rejig, BJP on Wednesday dropped two senior party leaders—Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The two tall leaders were dropped from the parliamentary board and new faces were brought in to focus on expanding in both social and geographical terms. The new inclusions include the name of former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, former Assam chief minister Sarbanand Sonowa, National Commission for minorities chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Sudha Yadav, K Laxman and Satyanarayan Jatiya.

Omission of Gadkari comes as the biggest shocker in the revamp. At a recent event in Nagpur, the union minister had claimed that he sometimes thinks about quitting politics as ‘it has become more about powerplay.’

The Nationalist Congress Party Wednesday took a dig at the BJP over Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s ouster from its parliamentary board, saying the party removed him from the panel due to his rising stature as an “astute politician”.

“When your calibre and capabilities grow and you pose a challenge to the higher ups the BJP downsizes you. The tainted get upgraded…” NCP spokesman Clyde Crasto said on Twitter.