Gadkari @ BJP meet: Should avoid Congress's mistakes

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party has been a party with a difference and that is why it has repeatedly won the trust of voters, but cautioned against the saffron outfit repeating mistakes committed by the Congress in the past which saw its exit from power.

"If we continue doing what the Congress used to do, then there is no use of their exit and our entry," emphasised Gadkari in comments coming more than a month after the BJP failed to notch up a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha polls.

Gadkari was addressing a Goa BJP executive meeting near Panaji which was attended by party's state unit president Sadanand Tanavade and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, among other leaders.

In his 40-minute-long speech, the Union minister recalled his mentor and former deputy PM L K Advani's statement that the "BJP is a party with a difference".

"Advaniji used to say that we are a party with a difference. We have to understand how different we are from other parties," the former BJP president maintained.

The Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur said people have elected the BJP because of the Congress's mistakes and cautioned against his party committing the same errors.

"If we commit the same mistakes, then there is no use in their exit and our entry," asserted Gadkari.

"That is why, in the days to come, party cadres should know that politics is an instrument of bringing social and economic reforms," he said.

Gadkari stressed that "We (BJP) have to create a corruption-free country and for that we should have a plan in place."

Referring to politics in adjoining Maharashtra, Gadkari argued that in his home state there is a trend of playing politics on caste lines (jativadi rajkaran).

"I have decided not to follow this trend. I have told people that I will not indulge in caste-based politics (jaat-paat). Jo karega jaat ki baat, usko padegi kaske laath (the one who will speak about caste will get a strong kick)," he warned.

Gadkari said a person is known by values he possesses and not his caste.

In a message to Goa BJP cadres, Gadkari urged them to visit every constituency and strengthen the organisation so that the party is able to retain power after the 2027 assembly elections.