Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has dismissed Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's suggestion that he should leave the BJP and join the opposition as "immature and ridiculous." Gadkari stated that there was no need for Thackeray to worry about BJP leaders, emphasizing the party's established system for selecting candidates.
Thackeray had made the offer to Gadkari during a rally in Maharashtra's Yavatmal, expressing his dissatisfaction over Gadkari's name being missing from the BJP's first list of candidates. However, Gadkari's name was later included in the BJP's second list, fielding him from the Nagpur parliamentary seat.
In response, Gadkari mentioned that discussions on ticket distribution in Maharashtra were still ongoing and downplayed any concerns about his candidacy.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also criticized Thackeray's offer to Gadkari, likening it to an ordinary person proposing to make someone the US president. Fadnavis highlighted that the absence of Maharashtra names in the BJP's initial candidate list was due to incomplete seat-sharing discussions with allies.
Earlier, the BJP had announced its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, featuring 34 Union ministers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will contest from the Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh.
