Another top BJP leader tells Nitin Gadkari to step down

BJP president Nitin Gadkari faced a fresh attack from within his party on Saturday. National executive member Jagadish Shettigar demanded that he step down from the top post in the wake of allegations about the dubious funding of his Purti group.

"Gadkari is also a swayamsewak whose dharma is to protect the interest of the country first and then protect the interest of the organisation. So I am sure being a swayamsewak, as per his conscience he will take the best step in the overall interest of the country and the organisation," Shettigar said.

He maintained that public perception was important, and that Gadkari should step down until the investigations were complete.

Shettigar refused to comment on the clean chit given to Gadkari by RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy. However, he said there should be an internal mechanism to identify corrupt persons.

"If what has been reported is correct then I think it is not as per what you call the norms of SEBI or other institutions," Shettigar said.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani and his son Mahesh had demanded that Gadkari should step down. Ram Jethmalani had claimed that Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha agreed with him.

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