Gadkari envoy cools BSY ire

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In an indication of how seriously the BJP’s national president is taking the power struggle within the Karnataka state unit, Nitin Gadkari dispatched his trusted aide Sanjay Joshi —the very same man he eased out of the party national executive at Gujarat strongman Narendra Modi’s behest — to douse fires here.

Mr Gadkari is reportedly unsettled by former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s constant sabre-rattling as well as the prospect of a rebellion brewing in former chief minister Sadananda Gowda’s camp. His hand-picked peace envoy Sanjay Joshi was sent to placate BSY with an assurance that he would be given a suitable position at an appropriate time.

During his hush-hush visit to Bengaluru on July 18-19, the RSS leader reportedly met Mr Yeddyurappa at his residence in Dollars Colony and conveyed Mr Gadkari’s message that he should not part ways or embarrass the top brass with statements-such as the ones he has made in support of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and UPA’s Presidential candidate Mr Pranab Mukherjee.

Sources told Deccan Chronicle that during the hour-long meeting, the former chief minister vent his ire against senior central leaders over how he was forced to step down in the wake of former Lokayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde’s report on illegal mining in July 2011, even though there was no evidence against him in Justice Hegde’s report.