Gadkari’s sweet route to success

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RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan, with his family, perform Chhat puja

Mixing business and politics may not be easy for all but BJP chief Nitin Gadkari appears to have a knack to use the former to further the latter.
Now that Mr Gadkari has decided to contest the next Lok Sabha elections, he is attempting to tread the well-known path of Vidarbha politics through sugar mills.
Mr Gadkari is looking to buy at least one such mill in each of the 11 Vidarbha districts in Maharashtra, said Mr Sudhir Dive, CEO of “Purti Power and Sugar Ltd.”, a company owned by the BJP chief. Mr Gadkari has bought three sugar mills so far at Bela, Bhandara (which was interestingly founded by NCP leader and Union minister Praful Patel) and Wardha.
“One sugar mill affects fate of at least two lakh people directly or indirectly,” said Mr Vijay Rao Mude, an ex-MP of the BJP from Wardha, who added that Mr Gadkari could choose to contest any of the three Lok Sabha seats — Nagpur, Wardha and Bhandara-Gondia. Though elections are still far away, Mr Gadkari has clearly begun the work to cultivate his future constituency. Speaking on the occasion of inauguration of new crushing season at his new sugar mill at Wardha, which was attended by leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Prem Kumar Dhumal, Mr Gadkari clarified that out of the `90 crore equity base of the company, his contribution is that of only `1 lakh, with majority shares being with farmers. “This year, a profit of `300 crores has gone to farmers due to Purti Sugars. Next year, I assure that farmers will get benefit of `1,000 crore,” said Mr Gadkari, who added that he would scale up businesses of sugar mills to ensure that fate of region, known for farmers’ suicides, changes. As Mr Gadkari reeled out upcoming initiatives of his company to empower farmers, Mr Jaitely said later that he felt like a student, while listening to the BJP chief. “I am sure one day Vidarbha region will be as prosperous as Punjab,” added Mr Jaitley.