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In this editorial episode, Mr. Sujit Nair delves into the potential emergence of Nitin Gadkari as an alternative Prime Ministerial candidate should the BJP fail to secure an outright majority in India's government. Additionally, he raises concerns about subtle attempts to discredit Gadkari through certain reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, potentially aimed at sidelining him from the race for the Prime Minister's office.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari recently responded to an audit report critiquing the management of funds for the Dwarka Expressway project. In this report, it was claimed that an extravagant sum of Rs 250 crore was expended per kilometer on the project, significantly exceeding the Rs 18.2 crore per kilometer sanctioned by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
Gadkari vehemently refuted these allegations of ""high construction costs,"" asserting that the length of the Dwarka Expressway was not the reported 29 kilometers, but rather around 230 kilometers, accounting for the inclusion of tunnels. According to his explanation, the actual cost per kilometer amounted to Rs 9.5 crore. Gadkari maintained that he had communicated this clarification to CAG officials, who were purportedly convinced by his argument. However, despite this, the CAG report was still published.
In essence, Mr. Sujit Nair's editorial piece raises questions about the timing and motivation behind the CAG report's release, insinuating that it may be part of a larger strategy to undermine Nitin Gadkari's political aspirations as a potential Prime Ministerial candidate should the BJP fail to secure a clear majority in the government.
#NitinGadkari #NarendraModi #LokSabhaElection2024 #RajnathSingh #YogiAdiyanath #BJP #LokSabha #Parliament #HWNews
https://linktr.ee/sujitnair
In this editorial episode, Mr. Sujit Nair delves into the potential emergence of Nitin Gadkari as an alternative Prime Ministerial candidate should the BJP fail to secure an outright majority in India's government. Additionally, he raises concerns about subtle attempts to discredit Gadkari through certain reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, potentially aimed at sidelining him from the race for the Prime Minister's office.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari recently responded to an audit report critiquing the management of funds for the Dwarka Expressway project. In this report, it was claimed that an extravagant sum of Rs 250 crore was expended per kilometer on the project, significantly exceeding the Rs 18.2 crore per kilometer sanctioned by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
Gadkari vehemently refuted these allegations of ""high construction costs,"" asserting that the length of the Dwarka Expressway was not the reported 29 kilometers, but rather around 230 kilometers, accounting for the inclusion of tunnels. According to his explanation, the actual cost per kilometer amounted to Rs 9.5 crore. Gadkari maintained that he had communicated this clarification to CAG officials, who were purportedly convinced by his argument. However, despite this, the CAG report was still published.
In essence, Mr. Sujit Nair's editorial piece raises questions about the timing and motivation behind the CAG report's release, insinuating that it may be part of a larger strategy to undermine Nitin Gadkari's political aspirations as a potential Prime Ministerial candidate should the BJP fail to secure a clear majority in the government.
#NitinGadkari #NarendraModi #LokSabhaElection2024 #RajnathSingh #YogiAdiyanath #BJP #LokSabha #Parliament #HWNews
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00:00 Namaskar, welcome to another episode of editorial.
00:06 A couple of days back I had done an editorial on the scams or on the irregularities, sorry
00:14 I will not use the word scam, I would use the word irregularities.
00:18 Some irregularities that CAG had flagged.
00:21 I spoke to you about that and I almost took you through a lot of them.
00:26 Now there is one thing which is very interesting which a lot of you all also wrote in the comment
00:31 box is where how come most of the irregularities are from Mr. Nitin Gadkari's department.
00:41 Come to think of it, yes, most of those irregularities was from Nitin Gadkari's department.
00:53 Now the logic is that infrastructure, that is the biggest department, that is the largest
00:59 spend that the government does after defence and all of that.
01:02 So maybe that is why it is easier for CAG or it is more prone to have irregularities
01:10 in that particular department.
01:11 That was one logic.
01:13 But is that the logic?
01:17 Let's talk about it.
01:18 Let's get right into the show.
01:23 So I have spoken about the CAG irregularities.
01:26 I have done an editorial, I think day before yesterday.
01:29 I am going to attach that editorial with this particular video.
01:33 Do watch it.
01:34 It is interesting.
01:35 I have gone into details but I will just re-brush your memory.
01:38 In fact, if you remember, under the Bharat Mala program, the CAG had raised red flags
01:48 and spoken about irregularities in the Dwarka Expressway project.
01:53 Now what the CAG has said is, the CAG said that, listen, the Cabinet Committee of Economic
01:58 Affairs, that is CCEA, had approved rupees 18.2 crore per kilometre, Dwarka Expressway.
02:09 They had approved 18.2 crore per kilometre.
02:14 But what NHEI ended up spending is 250.77 crores per kilometre.
02:21 They said, EK, what is this?
02:25 Look at the difference.
02:26 Who gave you permission?
02:29 And it was complete mismanagement of the costings.
02:35 Complete mismanagement.
02:38 Now that's in a way what they said is, if it has happened, then well, there is a lot
02:44 of explanation that Mr Nitin Gadkari has to give.
02:46 There is no doubt about it.
02:48 And which today, that is Saturday, Mr Nitin Gadkari said that he rejected this claim.
02:53 He said, no, this is false.
02:54 This is not right.
02:55 Now I am sure he will give his own explanation, which I will come back to you with.
03:00 I will come back to you with that explanation.
03:03 But the fact is, you see, two, three things surprised me.
03:09 A lot of you all also wrote in that particular reddit, a lot of my viewers also wrote about
03:15 it.
03:16 Two, three things surprised me is because, see, first thing is that our government, our
03:19 good Prime Minister and his government, you see, they are not very friendly with numbers.
03:26 No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
03:27 They don't like numbers and all that, especially numbers that doesn't go in favour of the government.
03:33 So, if you have numbers that doesn't go in favour of the government, if it is an outside
03:37 party, then they are raided.
03:40 And if it's an inside party, then they are transferred or sacked.
03:43 It happens normally.
03:44 Numbers don't come out.
03:45 In this case, numbers came out.
03:46 The irregularities was brought up.
03:47 It was publicised, baba.
03:48 So, one wondered how could this happen?
03:49 Strange, no?
03:50 Number one.
03:51 Number two is that, you see, what happens is that, you see, the number one is that,
04:02 you see, what happens is, this is 2023, next year is 2024, eve of the election, eve of
04:09 the election.
04:10 A political party allowing CAG to bring about such numbers on the eve of the election, that
04:17 too there is a history.
04:18 Remember, eve of election, UPA, the 2G scam, 3G scam, 5G scam, 6G scam, all that happened
04:25 before the elections.
04:27 And what happened in the elections, that also we know.
04:29 So, history is there for us.
04:32 So, how can NDA government, a Modi government allow somebody to talk against him?
04:40 2023 to before 2024, very important question.
04:44 So that too surprised me.
04:46 And thirdly, what surprised me is that every, almost most of the, most of the irregularities
04:55 that were flagged off were pertaining to NHAI, that is National Highway Authorities of India,
05:02 which is under Mr. Nitin Gadkari.
05:05 That also was very surprising.
05:07 Chalo, theek hai.
05:08 Lot of people said, tum galat bol raha hai.
05:11 You are talking, you are not talking, making sense.
05:14 Why?
05:15 Because see, NHAI is into large projects.
05:17 NHAI is into projects where there are huge amount of vendors, huge amount of workers,
05:23 large projects.
05:24 Theek hai yaar.
05:25 That is where you normally find flaws.
05:27 You normally find irregularities.
05:29 You normally, you know, because controlling that is very difficult.
05:32 So yeah, that is why the CAG said this.
05:35 And that is what happened.
05:36 And that is why possibly all these irregularities, most of it are NHAI.
05:41 Theek hai.
05:42 Okay.
05:43 See, but it is not that every year, if that was the fact, then every time maximum irregularities
05:50 should be highlighted with the NHAI, right?
05:55 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2019, because, you know, previous Prime Ministers have also done
06:03 a lot of infrastructure development.
06:05 So then it was not that most of the CAG issues were with NHAI or Government of Infrastructure
06:11 and Roads and all that.
06:12 Aisa nahi tha.
06:13 Toh that also was a surprising thing.
06:15 So there was a lot of confusion.
06:18 That is what got a lot of us to think that, Baba, are all of these red flags happening
06:26 because CAG is very diligent in what they are doing or are all of this happening for
06:32 some other reason?
06:34 Could be political reason.
06:37 This doubt cropped in one's mind.
06:40 So that's the point I'm going to talk to you about.
06:44 Now let's keep all this CAG wagon off in the side.
06:47 Let's talk about Narendra Modi.
06:51 Let's talk about Nitin Gadkari.
06:54 And let's talk about 2024 election.
06:56 Now according to a lot of reports, according to a lot of reports, 2024 me, it is not a
07:05 cakewalk for BJP.
07:07 While BJP and NDA looks as if they are leading and they may end up making the government
07:13 again.
07:14 But it is not a cakewalk like a lot of us assumed maybe six months, eight months back.
07:20 It's not a cakewalk anymore.
07:22 I N D I A that is India, that's the United Opposition put together, they are doing a
07:27 fairly decent job.
07:28 And if they continue to do what they are doing and if they continue to stick together and
07:33 if the popularity of Rahul Gandhi grows the way it is growing, including popularity of
07:38 Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal and Stalin and Nitish Kumar and all and Uddhav Thackeray
07:43 and all keeps growing the way it is growing, well, toh problem hai.
07:47 There is a problem.
07:49 Take care.
07:50 Now if this is the condition, then what really are we looking at?
07:54 We are looking at a stage where NDA, like a lot of people say, may get anything between
08:00 300, some people say 320, some people say 310 and so on and so forth.
08:07 In fact, I have got some figures also.
08:09 Why only lot of people say let us talk about actual figures also.
08:12 So Times Now has said that NDA may get anything between 296 to 320, BJP may get anything between
08:20 288 to 314.
08:21 So this is what Times Now says.
08:25 Now all these are actually just figures because I tell you it is too early to estimate any
08:30 kind of figures.
08:31 Now what happens if Bharatiya Janata Party is falling short of 275?
08:37 Then things will change.
08:41 You see, leadership is undisputed till such time that the leader wins.
08:48 The day that leader falls short of winning, no, the day that leader falls short of winning,
08:53 the leader gets competitors.
08:57 You find a lot of competitors around that leader, especially if that leader has been
09:05 kind of autocratic in his leadership, my way or the highway kind of leadership.
09:11 Lot of political, lot of adversaries.
09:13 Forget about adversaries outside, you will start finding adversaries inside.
09:21 Let us talk about BJP and adversaries inside BJP.
09:30 Now if BJP is short of 275, the chances are, BJP too, there has been lot of activities
09:38 happening within the party.
09:41 People like Rajnath Singh, people like Nitin Gadkari, people like Yogi Adityanath, while
09:47 they all have been talking very highly about the Prime Minister, but these politicians
09:53 also have been bonding together separately.
09:58 These three also have been bonding together.
10:01 Now one thing understand in politics, one thing do understand in politics, in politics,
10:08 politicians don't bond for no reason.
10:11 If they bond, there has to be a reason.
10:13 So if they bond, there has to be some kind of a resultant out of that bonding that happens.
10:17 Be very clear about it.
10:19 When Ajit Pawar met Devendra Fadnavis twice, third meeting he joined hands with Devendra
10:27 Fadnavis and went and allied with Bharatiya Janata Party.
10:31 Very simple.
10:32 So bonding doesn't happen just like that.
10:34 Aisa hi chai pe, baju mein tha toh aage hai.
10:37 Aisa nahi hota hai.
10:38 Something has to come out of this bonding and that could come out if Bharatiya Janata
10:44 Party doesn't make 275.
10:47 Point number one.
10:48 Point number two.
10:49 Point number two is that what happens if they don't get 275 and the NDA allies are not really
11:00 comfortable with Narendra Modi leadership.
11:04 Chances are they may not be.
11:10 For instance, if Akali Dal comes in as an ally of NDA, Akali Dal was very vociferous
11:15 about the fact that they were not very comfortable with Narendra Modi.
11:20 They were very vociferous about it.
11:22 Now they have no choice so they are kind of may ally with NDA, with Bharatiya Janata Party
11:27 but they were quite vociferous.
11:28 Now if they get an opportunity that their five votes count or their five seats count,
11:33 you think they are going to keep quiet?
11:35 They would want to see a new leader.
11:37 Chandrababu Naidu who people say may join the NDA back, mind you he was with NDA once
11:44 upon a time, 2014, he left NDA, now he may join back.
11:47 Even Chandrababu Naidu who left NDA because of Narendra Modi and he felt that Narendra
11:52 Modi was very autocratic in his approach and all of that.
11:56 You think this Chandrababu Naidu when he goes back to NDA and he gets an opportunity he
12:00 will not put his opinion?
12:03 When his two votes count, his two seats count or whatever seats I am just saying.
12:07 If it counts you think he will not make an opinion?
12:10 The point is chances are a lot of these people in NDA have had a love hate relationship.
12:15 Love because they have no choice, hate because that's what they felt in their heart.
12:19 So there was a love hate relationship with Mr. Narendra Modi.
12:23 Chances are if you are depending on their two seats to make Mr. Narendra Modi Prime
12:27 Minister then they may want to raise their little finger and say why Narendra Modi, why
12:32 not somebody else.
12:34 It could happen.
12:35 So the point is this is the time where probably the next best leader that Bharatiya Janata
12:44 Party has as a Prime Ministerial candidate that is Mr. Nitin Gadkari may come through.
12:51 Why Mr. Nitin Gadkari?
12:53 Mr. Nitin Gadkari because Mr. Nitin Gadkari like I told you the second largest group after
12:58 Modi Amit Shah and his people, the second largest group if you go to see, if you assume,
13:03 if you just humor me and assume that there are two groups, the second largest group that
13:07 is Rajnath Singh, Yogi Adityanath and Nitin Gadkari would want to project a Nitin Gadkari
13:12 as the Prime Ministerial candidate because he will be accepted, easily accepted.
13:20 Rajnath Singh is almost 72.
13:24 So if you go by the BJP's rule, 75 he has to retire.
13:30 So he has only 3 years whereas Nitin Gadkari is 66.
13:34 Yogi Adityanath because Yogi Adityanath may not get that kind of consensus that Nitin
13:38 Gadkari may get.
13:40 So chances are Nitin Gadkari is the most eligible Prime Ministerial candidate after Narendra
13:49 Modi.
13:51 That's the point.
13:52 So that's point number 2.
13:53 And point number 3 most importantly is that overall, overall Nitin Gadkari is seen as
14:02 a person who has got fantastic relation with almost everybody in this country, every political
14:09 leader, something similar to Sharad Pawar straight.
14:13 Nitin Gadkari has no enemies, absolutely no enemies.
14:20 He is only friends.
14:22 He is friends with everybody.
14:24 He was friends, when he was in Maharashtra, he was friends with Vilas Rao Deshmukh, he
14:27 was friends with Raj Thackeray, he was friends with RR Patil, he was friends with everybody
14:32 in Maharashtra.
14:34 He was friends with Sharad Pawar.
14:36 He had no problem with Sharad Pawar.
14:39 So he was friends with everybody.
14:41 Now he is friends with Mamata Banerjee, he is friends with Stalin, he is friends with
14:46 Uddhav Thackeray, he is friends with almost every other leader.
14:51 He is friends with them.
14:53 He is quite seen as a quite moderate face.
14:58 He is not seen as a hardcore Hindutva face.
15:02 Though he is more closer to Nagpur, when I say Nagpur, he stays in Nagpur, but literally
15:09 more closer to Nagpur, that is RSS headquarters, than possibly Amit Shah and Narendra Modi
15:16 and Yogi put together.
15:17 He is more closer to RSS.
15:19 But he is seen as a moderate face.
15:21 He has never ever gone communal or he has made any communal statement.
15:25 He doesn't do all of that.
15:28 He is seen as a person who is the least arrogant amongst the top ministers of BJP.
15:37 So the chances are that he may come through easily consensus wise, internal consensus
15:46 wise, external consensus wise, he may come through as a very formidable opposition for
15:52 Narendra Modi from within the Bharatiya Janata Party circuit if Narendra Modi cannot single
15:58 handedly ensure that Bharatiya Janata Party gets more than 280, 290, 200, 300 seats.
16:05 If he gets it, then it couldn't care less.
16:08 Nothing of this is going to happen.
16:10 So therefore, while there are lot of rumors that RSS says that they are kind of finding
16:16 it difficult, so therefore till such time that Bharatiya Janata Party is not very confident
16:20 of breaking that 280 number, Narendra Modi is going to be very cautious about Nitin Gadkari.
16:27 So therefore, if you look at it from that perspective, red flags on Nitin Gadkari is
16:36 very natural, isn't it?
16:39 That's the point I wanted to make through this editorial and till I see you next time,
16:42 that's day after tomorrow at 10 o'clock.
16:45 Namaskar.
16:46 ♪ ♪