Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday dismissed the allegations of corruption in electoral bond scheme and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will return to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking at the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Gadkari said he did not want to make any comment on the electoral bond scheme as it would amount to contempt of court since the matter is sub judice in the Supreme Court. However, reacting to the allegations that the BJP had engaged in corruption through the scheme and a large share of donations to the party came from infrastructure companies, Gadkari said the government had not awarded a single tender for infrastructure projects without e-tenders.
“I have awarded work worth ₹25 lakh crores in 10 years. In water issues, in shipping, and later in the roads sector, ropeways, cable cars, tunnels, express highways, we have not done even one work without e-tenders. [..] Every project was executed in a manner transparent, non-corrupt, time-bound and committed to quality,” he said, and claimed that he was ready to face the punishment if even a single person came forward and said that they had been asked to pay money to get work from the government.
Looking back at his ministry’s work in the last 10 years, Gadkari said that although there had been great strides in the building of tunnels, bridges, expressways and more, the achievement he was personally most proud of was bringing e-rickshaws to replace cycle or hand-drawn rickshaws. “One crore people who were being exploited have been freed, and they are driving e-rickshaws,” he said.
He said he was certain that the upcoming elections would see three “hat tricks”—the BJP winning 400 seats and becoming the first party other than the Congress to have a third term in power, Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister for the third time, and Gadkari himself winning the Nagpur seat for the third time.
He claimed the INDIA bloc would be defeated, but said that he believed in emphasising the achievements of the NDA government in the last 10 years to win the people’s support rather than negatively targeting the Opposition.
In response to the controversy regarding the government’s recent notification of the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act, Gadkari said, “It is very clear that if the people of the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain faiths go to foreign countries and are removed from there, they do not have the right to go to any country. So naturally, our Constitution says that they can be given citizenship in India.”
On his home state Maharashtra, he said that decisions regarding seat-sharing with the Shiv Sena had been “mostly finalised”, and that the alliance would win a resounding victory in the state. He also said that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had worked out a “solution” to the demand for Maratha reservation in the state, and that it was no longer an issue.
He declined to comment on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray’s visit to Delhi and reports that he would be joining the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. He said any decision on this would be taken by the party leadership who are in talks with him.
Gadhkari also said that former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s public offer to give him a ticket from the Maharashtra Vikas Agadi (MVA) was “laughable”, and there was no question of him joining any other party.
“I started my life as a Sangh Swayamsevak and an ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) Karyakarta. And whatever I am today, and whatever goodness is in me, is because of these two organisations. So, everything is good. I am very much proud of my convictions. If I am good, so is my party. And if I am good, so is my ideology,” he said.
