'I am not a person who would do such things from behind the scenes.'
'I don't believe in taking somebody else's support for speaking out my mind.'
Madhav Bhandari, former chief spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra and a current BJP vice-president, has been with the party since the 1980s. Bhandari is one of the BJP's sharpest and most articulate leaders when it comes to defending the party's political positions.
Bhandari's son Chinmay posted a long tweet on X on Thursday, February 15, 2024, expressing his pain and anguish over his father being sidelined in the party (external link).
Chinmay's post comes in the wake of the BJP nominating former Maharashtra chief minister and Congress turncoat Ashok Chavan who joined the party a couple of days earlier, Dr Ajit Gopchade, an RSS worker who shot to fame as someone who was seen atop the Babri Masjid when it was demolished on December 6, 1992, and former Pune MLA Medha Kulkarni as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha election.
'I know my father, setbacks and disappointments do not deter him, and they never will. He will continue to work for the party as long as he can, putting this nation, this state and its society first, as always,' Chinmay noted in his X post.
"I have never spoken about these things and even today I don't feel it is necessary for me to speak about anything. The party has always taken decisions in the best interest of the party. That's all," Madhav Bhandari tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.
Would you like to react to your son Chinmay Bhandari's post on X that expresses his deep pain and anguish about you being sidelined in the BJP when it comes to being rewarded for all your hard work in the BJP?
So?
Do you concur with what he has written in his post?
He has written about his personal feelings. He is an adult now; he is 33-34 now and he has all the right to write what he feels like. He is entitled to freely express himself.
Do you concur with what he has written in his post?
He has not criticised anybody in his post. The post is not against anybody. He has not addressed his post to anybody.
He has mentioned that he has been pained by your being sidelined in the BJP?
Doesn't anyone have the right to express his pain and disappointment? That's all there is to it.
Do you concur with what he has written in his post?
He has written what he is feeling. I never speak about these things; it is not me.
Do you think you should clarify your position in a rejoinder? People will think that it was you who asked Chinmay to tweet about you being sidelined?
It is an individual's absolute right to thinks what he thinks and how he thinks. I am not a person who would do such things from behind the scenes. I don't believe in taking somebody else's support for speaking out my own mind.
I speak for myself. I act for myself.
Are you as pained about being sidelined by the BJP after giving the party so much all your life?
I have never spoken about these things and even today I don't feel it is necessary for me to speak about anything.
The party has always taken decisions in the best interest of the party. That's all.
