Would rather jump in well: Gadkari on Cong leader's offer

Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Nitin Gadkari has said that a politician once advised him to join the Congress, to which he replied that he would rather die by jumping into a well than becoming a member of that party.

The Minister of Road Transport and Highways also claimed that the BJP government carried out twice the amount of work in the country in the last nine years as compared to what the Congress did in the 60 years of its rule.

Addressing a gathering in Maharashtra's Bhandara on Friday to mark completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government, Gadkari recalled his initial days of working for the BJP and talked about the party's journey.

He also recalled the advice once given by late Congress leader Shrikant Jichkar.

"Jichkar once told me - 'You are a very good party worker and leader, and if you join the Congress, you will have a bright future'. But I told him that I would rather jump into a well than join the Congress because I have strong faith in the BJP and its ideology and will continue to work for it," Gadkari said.

He also hailed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for instilling values in him in his younger days when he worked for the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the RSS.

Talking about the Congress, the minister said the party got split many times since its formation.

"We should not forget the history of our country's democracy. We should learn from the past for the future. During its 60 years of rule, the Congress gave the slogan of 'Garibi Hatao' (eliminate poverty), but opened a series of educational institutions for personal gains," he said.

Gadkari hailed PM Modi for his vision of making India an economic superpower. "The future of the country is very bright," he said.

"In the last nine years, the BJP government has done twice the amount of work that the Congress could not carry out in the 60 years of its rule," he said.

The Union minister also said that when he was in Uttar Pradesh a few days back, he told the people that by the end of 2024, the roads in UP would be like the ones in the US.