Lucknow, October 29: With her remarks about Narendra Modi creating a stir within the party, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said on Thursday that “some vested interests” were “planting” stories to drive a wedge between her and the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Sources said Modi had approached BJP chief Nitin Gadkari to complain about Swaraj’s comments, after she was quoted as saying in Bihar that Modi’s magic may not work everywhere.
Top party sources said Modi, during a telephonic talk with Gadkari, raised the topic and conveyed his displeasure over her remarks, which were seen as a subtle hint that he may not be as popular outside Gujarat.
While speculation was rife that Gadkari took up the matter with Swaraj, the Leader of the Opposition denied any such development.
Sources close to Gadkari too dismissed suggestions that he had a word with Swaraj over the Modi remarks. However, he dropped in at top leader L K Advani’s residence, interestingly accompanied with Balbir Punj, the party in-charge of Gujarat affairs. In a message that must not have been lost on Swaraj, Punj later told reporters that Modi was a “popular national leader” and his services would be utilised by the party wherever needed.
Incidentally, the BJP did not make any effort to deny that some phone calls were made on this issue. Party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said everyone had heard what Swaraj had said and there was nothing more to add. Regarding the phone calls, she said the party did not think it necessary to disclose such details.
Dismissing reports that Gadkari had intervened and asked her to refrain from making such comments, Swaraj said: “Some people are planting stories so that differences crop up between me and Narendrabhai Modi. Some vested interests are at work. There is not an iota of truth in this.”
She said Gadkari and her had not discussed the issue at all. “We have spoken over the phone a couple of times in the past two days, but he did not broach this subject with me.”
She did not elaborate on who these vested interests were, but the mere mention of some people planting stories against her — the assertion interestingly bore a striking resemblance to Uma Bharti’s charge before she was expelled some years ago from the party — was loaded in many ways.
Swaraj maintained she shared a good rapport with Modi. “I had called him up after the BJP’s spectacular victory in the civic elections and congratulated him. I told him to keep his good work going and hold the party flag afloat,” Swaraj said over the phone from Bihar, where she is campaigning for Assembly elections.
She added that had Modi been upset with her, he would have called her directly.
——–Agencies