Manoj Tiwari, Vijay Goel clear ‘misunderstanding’

NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and sports minister Vijay Goel called it a truce on Monday following intervention by senior party leaders. Tiwari met Goel at his residence before BJP’s state executive meeting.
Goel said: “There was some misunderstanding, but now it has been resolved.” The meeting lasted over 30 minutes during which Goel told Tiwari about his ministry’s Slum Andolan initiative.“There should be no misunderstanding between party workers, as we all work for the party,” Tiwari later told TOI.
There were reports of tension between the two leaders after Goel felicitated newly-elected councillors at his residence a few days back. This had upset Tiwari, who said he didn’t know about the event, and asked the councillors and office-bearers not to attend it. The state unit had to organise a special felicitation event for the councillors at a short notice to avoid an awkward situation.
Caught in the crossfire, Delhi BJP office-bearers and some newly-elected councillors gave the event a miss. Sources said Tiwari took up the matter with the senior leadership and even tried to speak to Amit Shah about it.
BJP members said the party brass was upset with the media reports about the tussle between the two leaders. “We don’t want to give any opportunity to our opponents, especially after our victory in the municipal elections. At present, the party’s focus is to corner the Kejriwal government. Such misunderstanding between party leaders sends a wrong signal to the cadre,” said a senior BJP functionary.
At the first state executive meeting on Monday after the victory in municipal polls, BJP discussed its future strategy to step up the attack on Kejriwal government. Sources said Goel informed the state unit about his ministry’s initiative to adopt a slum.
Tiwari has been focusing on slums ever since he took charge of the BJP’s Delhi unit. He started his election campaign by spending a night at a slum in Central Delhi. Even after the party’s victory, he has been regularly visiting these areas.