Sanjay Joshi on comeback trail?

NAGPURpracharak-turnedBJPJoshiNarendraModiJoshiMitraParivar Known as an organizer par excellence, Joshi is reassured as an asset by the BJP. Years ago he worked in Gujarat shoulder to shoulder with Modi and created conditions conducive for the BJP. But the two leaders are today daggers drawn. So much so that Modi last year refused to attend the party's national executive meeting in Mumbai till Joshi was made to scuttle his train journey through Gujarat. Only after the party stopped him in the tracks, did Modi land in Mumbai. To please Modi, the then BJP national president Nitin Gadkari had to remove Joshi from national general secretary post. This was after Gadkari had rehabilitated Joshi making him in-charge of UP election management. He was rehabilitated after years of lying low after his name was dragged in a sleaze CD scandal in 2006. Though he has no assignment in the BJP now, a Gujarat MP's flat that he occupies in New Delhi is a beehive of political activity with prominent party leaders and workers eager to meet him. As a Nagpurian with strong roots in RSS, Joshi played a crucial role in organization building and BJP's spread in west Nagpur. "That was the reason I readily agreed to be part of the birthday celebrations Joshi's friends organized," said Devendra Fadnavis who represented west Nagpur as MLA for two terms. Vehemently denying that there was any political agenda behind the function, Fadnavis said people who were associated with Joshi in the city for two to three decades were organizing it.Besides Gadkari, MG Vaidya, Dr Vilas Dangre, city mayor Anil Sole, Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Sancheti, all four BJP MLAs from the city-Fadnavis, Krishna Khopde, Sudhakar Deshmukh, and Vikas Kumbhare would be present prominently while Uttam Maharaj would be present to bless those present at the function to be held at New Chopde Lawns in Police Line Takli, on Saturday, at 6pm.