Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Mumbai: Senior BJP leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari claimed that a political leader once offered him the post of Prime Minister, which he said he declined.
Gadkari, popularly known as the 'Highway Man of India', made the statement during a journalism awards function in Nagpur on Saturday evening.
Gadkari, however, did not specify as to who had offered him the post and when it was offered.
After this claim, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc took a dig at him with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) saying that the opposition alliance has several capable leaders who can lead the country.
"I remember one incident. I won’t name anyone. That person told me...'if you are going to become the Prime Minister, we will support you.' I told the leader that I am a man who follows one ideology and a certain conviction. I am in a party which has given me everything which I never even dreamt of," Gadkari said.
Following this claim, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi said that Gadkari is expressing his heartfelt desire to be on the top chair, "using the excuse of opposition parties, and is sending a message to Modi."
“I.N.D.I.A. alliance has many capable leaders who can lead the country, and wouldn't want to borrow one from BJP," she added.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls when Gadkari’s name did not figure in the first list of candidates, Thackeray’s party had given him an offer to join the Maha Vikas Aghadi. “Don’t bow down before Delhi, kick the ego of Delhi. Come to Maha Vikas Aghadi. It is our responsibility to get you elected,” Thackeray had said.
Gadkari is a senior functionary in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre since May 2014.
It may be recalled that in the past also the name of Gadkari had been floated for the post of the prime minister.
Politically too, he had landed in controversy for indirect criticism of the functioning of the Modi government.