BackCaught on tape: BJP leader Raj Purohit lashes out at leadership
Video from a sting operation on its Maharashtra legislative party chief whip Raj Purohit surfaces in which he levels a series of allegations and spares no one
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Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) problems just got worse.
A video from a sting operation on its Maharashtra legislative party chief whip Raj Purohit has surfaced in which he levels a series of allegations and spares no one—not even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Purohit, who was minister of state in the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state between 1995 and 1999, said, “Only two persons (Modi and Amit Shah) take decisions and others in the parliamentary board just give their seal of approval...."
Elaborating on why he was not made a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government in the state, Purohit said party legislator and prominent Mumbai builder Mangal Prabhat Lodha was to blame.
“Lodha gave a huge amount of money to the party with the only intention that I don’t become a minister," he claimed.
Purohit and Lodha are both from the Marwari community.
He alleged that even the RSS was influenced by Lodha.
Purohit questioned the leadership abilities of chief minister Fadnavis and said, “Had (Gopinath) Mundeji not died, Devendra (Fadnavis) would have never become chief minister."
Munde was the BJP’s seniormost leader from Maharashtra and was rural development minister in Modi’s cabinet before his death in a freak car accident in June last year.
Purohit ridiculed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and called him a failed leader.
Subsequently, MNS activists attacked Purohit’s office in Kalbadevi area of south Mumbai.
Text messages and phone calls to the Maharashtra BJP spokesperson remained unanswered.
When contacted, Lodha said, “I have nothing to say on this issue. The party will clarify our position."
Prakash Akolkar, political editor of Marathi newspaper Sakal, said, “This is clearly the ranting of a man who has got frustrated because he has been denied a ministry and it will definitely embarrass the BJP if not politically damage it."
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