Journalism of Courage
Former BJP national general secretary (Organisation) Sanjay Joshi, who allegedly did not share “good relations” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past, is set to visit Jayapur village in Varanasi on September 1. Jayapur is the village that the PM had adopted for development under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).
During his tenure as the Gujarat chief minister, pressure from Modi had reportedly kept Joshi away from the BJP national executive.
Joshi is set to inaugurate a blood donation camp and address a seminar in Jayapur. Within a month, this is his third visit to districts near Varanasi — the PM’s Lok Sabha constituency. While he had visited Mirzapur two days ago, he had gone to Sonbhadra around three weeks ago to meet party workers. Local BJP units, however, have feigned ignorance about these visits.
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So far, local BJP leaders in Varanasi have stayed away from the Jayapur event. BJP state spokesperson in Varanasi, Ashok Pandey, claimed they will consider attending it after receiving a formal information from Joshi and the organisers.
The blood donation camp and seminar in Jayapur is being organised by a local businessman of Varanasi, Nilesh Singh, on the birth anniversary of his mother. Though not a member of BJP, Singh claims to be close to both BJP and RSS leaders.
He added that BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar, now Haryana Chief Minister, had used his office in Nadesar for almost one month during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to manage Modi’s poll campaign. “I have been associated with Joshiji for the last five years. He will be the chief guest at the blood donation camp and seminar,” said Singh.
When contacted, Joshi confirmed that he will go to Jayapur on September 1. “The camp is being organisation by a self-help organisaton for a social cause and I am already moving across the country as a BJP worker,” he claimed.
BJP’s Varanasi Zila president Azad Singh Gautam said, “The event is not associated with BJP. But workers will attend it and also give a warm welcome to Sanjay Joshiji if the local unit is formally informed about his visit. Otherwise, it will be considered a personal visit.” Jayapur village falls in Varanasi Zila (district) unit.
Joshi, who had worked in UP before the 2011-12 Assembly polls, continued to do so ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as well. In the meantime, he was kept away from the BJP national executive reportedly under pressure from Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister. A fortnight later, the party also dissociated him from UP. However, hoardings in Joshi’s support had recently surfaced in Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Lucknow.
In April, some BJP leaders in Delhi had faced the wrath of the party’s top leadership for greeting Joshi on his birthday. Following this, a group of BJP workers in UP had set up ‘Sanjay Joshi Fan Club’ to demand his return to the party organisation. The demand was also raised by a section of BJP workers in Kanpur a few weeks ago when party national president Amit Shah visited the city.
Recently, Joshi had associated himself with the Swachh Bharat campaign launched by the PM and participated in various cleanliness programmes held in Lucknow and other parts of UP.
