India Tomorrow
New Delhi, September 4— Breaking his silence since he was denied ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi has said that the county required a “fearless” leadership that can argue with Prime Minister.
Without naming PM Narendra Modi, Joshi reportedly said: “I feel there is an acute need for such a leadership today that can based on principles, without fear, express views clearly without worrying whether the Prime Minister will be pleased or angry and argue with him.”
The senior BJP leader was speaking at a memorial meeting for Congress leader and former Union minister S Jaipal Reddy on Tuesday in New Delhi. Reddy died on July 28 in Hyderabad.
Joshi, who represented Kanpur Lok Sabha constituency between 2014-2019, was not given ticket by the party leadership to contest the elections again. Another senior leader LK Advani was also denied ticket in the 2019 polls.
Soon after Modi became PM in May 2014, Joshi, Advani and some other senior leaders were put in the newly-formed ‘Margdarshak Mandal’ and sidelined in the party. Party chief Amit Shah hardly ever consulted them in any of the party matters.
In the previous Lok Sabha, Joshi was heading the Estimates Committee of Parliament. In months running up to the Lok Sabha 2019 polls, the committee had issued uncomfortable notices to the Modi government over the bad loans. His panel had asked the PMO what actions were taken against large corporates with non-performing Assets.
