Instead of fighting opponents from other parties, BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari and Gopinath Munde seem to pulling down each other on policy issues.
While former BJP national president Nitin Gadkari said it was practically impossible to abolish toll as the state would have to pay huge compensation and large amount of funds have to diverted from the budget, deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde again reiterated on Sunday that toll would be abolished once the BJP comes to power.
This is not the first time that both leaders have locked horns over the toll policy. Earlier, Gadkari had stated that it was not possible to abolish toll economically as the government may have to pay Rs1.7 lakh crore to contractors and that may be a huge burden on the state. The toll policy has again brought the differences within the party to the fore.
In his interview to dna, Gadkari had stated that Munde must be having some solution in mind (about toll). However, he said that if there is no transparency then some action will have to be taken.
The toll policy received a fillipduring the Shiv Sena-BJP regime when Gadkari was the PWD minister Gadkari is credited with building a number of flyovers across the state and Mumbai.
While most party men agree that the toll policy needs to be reviewed, but understand that complete abolition of the policy may not be possible. "Although we are all for a toll free state, we are not sure whether it is practical to abolish it completely. But the public statements by these leaders are increasing the rift in the party," said a BJP leader.
Political parties in the state have realised that the toll policy has attracted the ire of citizens, especially the middle class, and had targeted the state government over it. Gadkari's friend and MNS supremo Raj Thackeray had raked up the toll issue twice and even organised an agitation at the toll plazas and tried to target the state government.
However, Thackeray developed cold feet and abandoned the agitation in between after obtaining an assurance from the state government to review the toll policy.
BJP state spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said the party has already stated the toll policy should be reviewed and deficiencies in the policy should be rectified. However, whether it should be completely abolished will be clarified in the manifesto of the party. The statements of the leaders are their own views on the policy."
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