Mumbai: In Modi 2.0, Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who has crafted his claim to fame as a ‘highways’ minister, was perceived to be losing political stock.
But, with Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) drubbing in Maharashtra shaving off Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis’ political stock, and the party’s overall reduced tally in the Lok Sabha, Gadkari’s presence in Modi 3.0 is likely to be very different, analysts say.
On Sunday, Gadkari, who won the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat for the third time in a row, was sworn in as a minister in the Narendra Modi-led government. This is his third stint in the Union Cabinet.
While Gadkari won this election with a reduced margin, much like Modi, he was also a saving grace for the BJP in Vidarbha, the party’s stronghold where it was virtually wiped out, with the ruling Mahayuti winning just three of the seven seats in the region.
Gadkari’s clout in Modi 3.0
According to analysts, including Gadkari in Modi’s Cabinet for a third time was a foregone conclusion given his performance.
“This is not a surprise. It is expected. Given his performance in the last 10 years he should be included. Also, he is close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,” says political analyst Abhay Deshpande.
Deshpande added that, this time, the BJP doesn’t have enough numbers for Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to run their writ as far as the allocation of ministerial berths is concerned. “Gadkari is also a leader who has good relations across parties, which will be an asset while dealing with coalition partners,” he adds.
The BJP’s dismal performance in Maharashtra, going down from 23 seats in 2019 to nine now, and the resultant setback to Fadnavis, who led the party into the general election, has also made Gadkari’s presence as a leader from Maharashtra more important.
Fadnavis, in a press conference, took the entire blame for the BJP’s poor showing in Maharashtra and offered to resign as deputy CM to be able to “focus more on the party organisation in the state”.
Political commentator Hemant Desai also makes this point. “Taking Gadkari (into the Cabinet) was unavoidable. Had BJP got a better majority at the Centre, the leadership could’ve decided to sideline him one way or the other. But, they wouldn’t want to stir a controversy now. He will likely be given an important infrastructure-related portfolio.”
Desai adds that while Gadkari’s winning margin dipped this time, “looking at Fadnavis’ situation in Maharashtra, Nitin Gadkari’s importance increases”.
“Gadkari has in the past said he doesn’t want to be chief minister, but irrespective, in this situation he will get more weightage and importance within the party,” says Desai.
This Lok Sabha election, Gadkari won against Congress’s Vikas Thakre by a margin of 1.37 lakh votes. His winning margin, however, was reduced by 78,397 votes. In 2019, he won against Congress’s Nana Patole, now state Congress chief, by a margin of 2.16 lakh votes.
Gadkari’s political stock in Modi governments
Gadkari contested his first Lok Sabha election in 2014, defeating Congress’s Vilas Muttemwar to win the Nagpur seat by a sizable margin of 2.84 lakh votes, according to ECI records. He retained the seat in 2019 with a slightly smaller narrower of 2.16 lakh.
Ahead of the 2019 election, Gadkari reportedly made a controversial remark about people thrashing political leaders who don’t fulfil the promises they make to the people. The Opposition alleged that Gadkari’s remarks were directed at Modi and that the former BJP president had prime ministerial ambitions for himself.
Gadkari denied harbouring any such aspirations, although his supporters in Nagpur were eager to see him in the role.
In 2019, Gadkari’s Lok Sabha campaign was centred on his work as a Union minister, focussing on how he drove the creation of long highways and expressways across the country — in contrast with most BJP candidates, who campaigned almost entirely in Modi’s name.
In the second Modi government, Gadkari was perceived to be steadily losing capital. In the 2021 cabinet reshuffle, he was stripped of the micro, small and medium industries portfolio which was then given to newly appointed minister Narayan Rane. Then, in 2022, the BJP dropped Gadkari from its parliamentary board.
And in August last year, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) flagged what it said was the ‘excessive cost’ of construction of the Dwarka Expressway, further raising questions about Gadkari’s position in the government. His ministry challenged the CAG report as “erroneous”.
Moreover, last year also saw the release of a biopic of Gadkari produced by Akshay Deshmukh Films and directed by debutant Anurag Bhusari. It highlighted how Gadkari helped carve out the BJP’s victory in 2014 and was poised to become prime minister, but allegations of graft and infighting perhaps dented his prospects.
The biopic also talked up Gadkari as the ‘infrastructure man’, shown to believe that one must maintain good relations even with political rivals — ‘haar jeet toh hoti rehti hain (winning and losing is all part of the game)’.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)