Ordinary worker carries weight: BJP's Somaiya after declining party role

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya on Wednesday said he has proven that the weight of an ordinary worker in the party has to be more than that of deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and party's state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Speaking a day after refusing to take up the responsibility given to him by the ruling outfit ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, he also said that he has been working as an ordinary worker of the party and was not greedy for any post.

Somaiya on Tuesday refused to take up the responsibility as "communication chief with the Election Commission of India for Maharashtra assembly polls", stating that he should have been consulted beforehand.

In a letter to Raosaheb Danve, chairman of the party's state election campaign committee, the former Mumbai MP termed the treatment given to him as "insulting".

Speaking to a regional news channel, Somaiya said, "I am not greedy for any post. Bawankule and Fadnavis are aware of how I have been working for the party...I have been working as an ordinary worker. I have proven that the weight of an ordinary worker has to be more than that of Fadnavis and Bawankule in the party."

Recalling the incident of a joint presser of undivided Shiv Sena and BJP, where both the parties announced to contest the 2019 assembly elections jointly, Somaiya said, "Before the press conference, Uddhav Thackeray told Amit Shah that he would not attend it if I am there. Fadnavis then asked me to leave the press conference before it began. Since that day, I have been working as an ordinary party worker but I have doubled my performance."

"If I am doing so much for my party, I do not need any excess baggage like a post in a committee. My party has agreed to it," he said.

Speaking on Somaiya's refusal to take up the party post, Bawankule on Tuesday called the former parliamentarian a senior leader.

He said, "It is a rule in the BJP that we do not ask anyone, we delegate responsibilities. The party did not discuss with me whether I wanted to become the state chief or not. I was made state chief directly."