00:00 Namaskar, welcome to another episode of editorial.
00:06 A couple of days back I had done an editorial on the scams or on the irregularities, sorry
00:14 I will not use the word scam, I would use the word irregularities.
00:18 Some irregularities that CAG had flagged.
00:21 I spoke to you about that and I almost took you through a lot of them.
00:26 Now there is one thing which is very interesting which a lot of you all also wrote in the comment
00:31 box is where how come most of the irregularities are from Mr. Nitin Gadkari's department.
00:41 Come to think of it, yes, most of those irregularities was from Nitin Gadkari's department.
00:53 Now the logic is that infrastructure, that is the biggest department, that is the largest
00:59 spend that the government does after defence and all of that.
01:02 So maybe that is why it is easier for CAG or it is more prone to have irregularities
01:10 in that particular department.
01:11 That was one logic.
01:13 But is that the logic?
01:17 Let's talk about it.
01:18 Let's get right into the show.
01:23 So I have spoken about the CAG irregularities.
01:26 I have done an editorial, I think day before yesterday.
01:29 I am going to attach that editorial with this particular video.
01:33 Do watch it.
01:34 It is interesting.
01:35 I have gone into details but I will just re-brush your memory.
01:38 In fact, if you remember, under the Bharat Mala program, the CAG had raised red flags
01:48 and spoken about irregularities in the Dwarka Expressway project.
01:53 Now what the CAG has said is, the CAG said that, listen, the Cabinet Committee of Economic
01:58 Affairs, that is CCEA, had approved rupees 18.2 crore per kilometre, Dwarka Expressway.
02:09 They had approved 18.2 crore per kilometre.
02:14 But what NHEI ended up spending is 250.77 crores per kilometre.
02:21 They said, EK, what is this?
02:25 Look at the difference.
02:26 Who gave you permission?
02:29 And it was complete mismanagement of the costings.
02:35 Complete mismanagement.
02:38 Now that's in a way what they said is, if it has happened, then well, there is a lot
02:44 of explanation that Mr Nitin Gadkari has to give.
02:46 There is no doubt about it.
02:48 And which today, that is Saturday, Mr Nitin Gadkari said that he rejected this claim.
02:53 He said, no, this is false.
02:54 This is not right.
02:55 Now I am sure he will give his own explanation, which I will come back to you with.
03:00 I will come back to you with that explanation.
03:03 But the fact is, you see, two, three things surprised me.
03:09 A lot of you all also wrote in that particular reddit, a lot of my viewers also wrote about
03:15 it.
03:16 Two, three things surprised me is because, see, first thing is that our government, our
03:19 good Prime Minister and his government, you see, they are not very friendly with numbers.
03:26 No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
03:27 They don't like numbers and all that, especially numbers that doesn't go in favour of the government.
03:33 So, if you have numbers that doesn't go in favour of the government, if it is an outside
03:37 party, then they are raided.
03:40 And if it's an inside party, then they are transferred or sacked.
03:43 It happens normally.
03:44 Numbers don't come out.
03:45 In this case, numbers came out.
03:46 The irregularities was brought up.
03:47 It was publicised, baba.
03:48 So, one wondered how could this happen?
03:49 Strange, no?
03:50 Number one.
03:51 Number two is that, you see, what happens is that, you see, the number one is that,
04:02 you see, what happens is, this is 2023, next year is 2024, eve of the election, eve of
04:09 the election.
04:10 A political party allowing CAG to bring about such numbers on the eve of the election, that
04:17 too there is a history.
04:18 Remember, eve of election, UPA, the 2G scam, 3G scam, 5G scam, 6G scam, all that happened
04:25 before the elections.
04:27 And what happened in the elections, that also we know.
04:29 So, history is there for us.
04:32 So, how can NDA government, a Modi government allow somebody to talk against him?
04:40 2023 to before 2024, very important question.
04:44 So that too surprised me.
04:46 And thirdly, what surprised me is that every, almost most of the, most of the irregularities
04:55 that were flagged off were pertaining to NHAI, that is National Highway Authorities of India,
05:02 which is under Mr. Nitin Gadkari.
05:05 That also was very surprising.
05:07 Chalo, theek hai.
05:08 Lot of people said, tum galat bol raha hai.
05:11 You are talking, you are not talking, making sense.
05:14 Why?
05:15 Because see, NHAI is into large projects.
05:17 NHAI is into projects where there are huge amount of vendors, huge amount of workers,
05:23 large projects.
05:24 Theek hai yaar.
05:25 That is where you normally find flaws.
05:27 You normally find irregularities.
05:29 You normally, you know, because controlling that is very difficult.
05:32 So yeah, that is why the CAG said this.
05:35 And that is what happened.
05:36 And that is why possibly all these irregularities, most of it are NHAI.
05:41 Theek hai.
05:42 Okay.
05:43 See, but it is not that every year, if that was the fact, then every time maximum irregularities
05:50 should be highlighted with the NHAI, right?
05:55 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2019, because, you know, previous Prime Ministers have also done
06:03 a lot of infrastructure development.
06:05 So then it was not that most of the CAG issues were with NHAI or Government of Infrastructure
06:11 and Roads and all that.
06:12 Aisa nahi tha.
06:13 Toh that also was a surprising thing.
06:15 So there was a lot of confusion.
06:18 That is what got a lot of us to think that, Baba, are all of these red flags happening
06:26 because CAG is very diligent in what they are doing or are all of this happening for
06:32 some other reason?
06:34 Could be political reason.
06:37 This doubt cropped in one's mind.
06:40 So that's the point I'm going to talk to you about.
06:44 Now let's keep all this CAG wagon off in the side.
06:47 Let's talk about Narendra Modi.
06:51 Let's talk about Nitin Gadkari.
06:54 And let's talk about 2024 election.
06:56 Now according to a lot of reports, according to a lot of reports, 2024 me, it is not a
07:05 cakewalk for BJP.
07:07 While BJP and NDA looks as if they are leading and they may end up making the government
07:13 again.
07:14 But it is not a cakewalk like a lot of us assumed maybe six months, eight months back.
07:20 It's not a cakewalk anymore.
07:22 I N D I A that is India, that's the United Opposition put together, they are doing a
07:27 fairly decent job.
07:28 And if they continue to do what they are doing and if they continue to stick together and
07:33 if the popularity of Rahul Gandhi grows the way it is growing, including popularity of
07:38 Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal and Stalin and Nitish Kumar and all and Uddhav Thackeray
07:43 and all keeps growing the way it is growing, well, toh problem hai.
07:47 There is a problem.
07:49 Take care.
07:50 Now if this is the condition, then what really are we looking at?
07:54 We are looking at a stage where NDA, like a lot of people say, may get anything between
08:00 300, some people say 320, some people say 310 and so on and so forth.
08:07 In fact, I have got some figures also.
08:09 Why only lot of people say let us talk about actual figures also.
08:12 So Times Now has said that NDA may get anything between 296 to 320, BJP may get anything between
08:20 288 to 314.
08:21 So this is what Times Now says.
08:25 Now all these are actually just figures because I tell you it is too early to estimate any
08:30 kind of figures.
08:31 Now what happens if Bharatiya Janata Party is falling short of 275?
08:37 Then things will change.
08:41 You see, leadership is undisputed till such time that the leader wins.
08:48 The day that leader falls short of winning, no, the day that leader falls short of winning,
08:53 the leader gets competitors.
08:57 You find a lot of competitors around that leader, especially if that leader has been
09:05 kind of autocratic in his leadership, my way or the highway kind of leadership.
09:11 Lot of political, lot of adversaries.
09:13 Forget about adversaries outside, you will start finding adversaries inside.
09:21 Let us talk about BJP and adversaries inside BJP.
09:30 Now if BJP is short of 275, the chances are, BJP too, there has been lot of activities
09:38 happening within the party.
09:41 People like Rajnath Singh, people like Nitin Gadkari, people like Yogi Adityanath, while
09:47 they all have been talking very highly about the Prime Minister, but these politicians
09:53 also have been bonding together separately.
09:58 These three also have been bonding together.
10:01 Now one thing understand in politics, one thing do understand in politics, in politics,
10:08 politicians don't bond for no reason.
10:11 If they bond, there has to be a reason.
10:13 So if they bond, there has to be some kind of a resultant out of that bonding that happens.
10:17 Be very clear about it.
10:19 When Ajit Pawar met Devendra Fadnavis twice, third meeting he joined hands with Devendra
10:27 Fadnavis and went and allied with Bharatiya Janata Party.
10:31 Very simple.
10:32 So bonding doesn't happen just like that.
10:34 Aisa hi chai pe, baju mein tha toh aage hai.
10:37 Aisa nahi hota hai.
10:38 Something has to come out of this bonding and that could come out if Bharatiya Janata
10:44 Party doesn't make 275.
10:47 Point number one.
10:48 Point number two.
10:49 Point number two is that what happens if they don't get 275 and the NDA allies are not really
11:00 comfortable with Narendra Modi leadership.
11:04 Chances are they may not be.
11:10 For instance, if Akali Dal comes in as an ally of NDA, Akali Dal was very vociferous
11:15 about the fact that they were not very comfortable with Narendra Modi.
11:20 They were very vociferous about it.
11:22 Now they have no choice so they are kind of may ally with NDA, with Bharatiya Janata Party
11:27 but they were quite vociferous.
11:28 Now if they get an opportunity that their five votes count or their five seats count,
11:33 you think they are going to keep quiet?
11:35 They would want to see a new leader.
11:37 Chandrababu Naidu who people say may join the NDA back, mind you he was with NDA once
11:44 upon a time, 2014, he left NDA, now he may join back.
11:47 Even Chandrababu Naidu who left NDA because of Narendra Modi and he felt that Narendra
11:52 Modi was very autocratic in his approach and all of that.
11:56 You think this Chandrababu Naidu when he goes back to NDA and he gets an opportunity he
12:00 will not put his opinion?
12:03 When his two votes count, his two seats count or whatever seats I am just saying.
12:07 If it counts you think he will not make an opinion?
12:10 The point is chances are a lot of these people in NDA have had a love hate relationship.
12:15 Love because they have no choice, hate because that's what they felt in their heart.
12:19 So there was a love hate relationship with Mr. Narendra Modi.
12:23 Chances are if you are depending on their two seats to make Mr. Narendra Modi Prime
12:27 Minister then they may want to raise their little finger and say why Narendra Modi, why
12:32 not somebody else.
12:34 It could happen.
12:35 So the point is this is the time where probably the next best leader that Bharatiya Janata
12:44 Party has as a Prime Ministerial candidate that is Mr. Nitin Gadkari may come through.
12:51 Why Mr. Nitin Gadkari?
12:53 Mr. Nitin Gadkari because Mr. Nitin Gadkari like I told you the second largest group after
12:58 Modi Amit Shah and his people, the second largest group if you go to see, if you assume,
13:03 if you just humor me and assume that there are two groups, the second largest group that
13:07 is Rajnath Singh, Yogi Adityanath and Nitin Gadkari would want to project a Nitin Gadkari
13:12 as the Prime Ministerial candidate because he will be accepted, easily accepted.
13:20 Rajnath Singh is almost 72.
13:24 So if you go by the BJP's rule, 75 he has to retire.
13:30 So he has only 3 years whereas Nitin Gadkari is 66.
13:34 Yogi Adityanath because Yogi Adityanath may not get that kind of consensus that Nitin
13:38 Gadkari may get.
13:40 So chances are Nitin Gadkari is the most eligible Prime Ministerial candidate after Narendra
13:49 Modi.
13:51 That's the point.
13:52 So that's point number 2.
13:53 And point number 3 most importantly is that overall, overall Nitin Gadkari is seen as
14:02 a person who has got fantastic relation with almost everybody in this country, every political
14:09 leader, something similar to Sharad Pawar straight.
14:13 Nitin Gadkari has no enemies, absolutely no enemies.
14:20 He is only friends.
14:22 He is friends with everybody.
14:24 He was friends, when he was in Maharashtra, he was friends with Vilas Rao Deshmukh, he
14:27 was friends with Raj Thackeray, he was friends with RR Patil, he was friends with everybody
14:32 in Maharashtra.
14:34 He was friends with Sharad Pawar.
14:36 He had no problem with Sharad Pawar.
14:39 So he was friends with everybody.
14:41 Now he is friends with Mamata Banerjee, he is friends with Stalin, he is friends with
14:46 Uddhav Thackeray, he is friends with almost every other leader.
14:51 He is friends with them.
14:53 He is quite seen as a quite moderate face.
14:58 He is not seen as a hardcore Hindutva face.
15:02 Though he is more closer to Nagpur, when I say Nagpur, he stays in Nagpur, but literally
15:09 more closer to Nagpur, that is RSS headquarters, than possibly Amit Shah and Narendra Modi
15:16 and Yogi put together.
15:17 He is more closer to RSS.
15:19 But he is seen as a moderate face.
15:21 He has never ever gone communal or he has made any communal statement.
15:25 He doesn't do all of that.
15:28 He is seen as a person who is the least arrogant amongst the top ministers of BJP.
15:37 So the chances are that he may come through easily consensus wise, internal consensus
15:46 wise, external consensus wise, he may come through as a very formidable opposition for
15:52 Narendra Modi from within the Bharatiya Janata Party circuit if Narendra Modi cannot single
15:58 handedly ensure that Bharatiya Janata Party gets more than 280, 290, 200, 300 seats.
16:05 If he gets it, then it couldn't care less.
16:08 Nothing of this is going to happen.
16:10 So therefore, while there are lot of rumors that RSS says that they are kind of finding
16:16 it difficult, so therefore till such time that Bharatiya Janata Party is not very confident
16:20 of breaking that 280 number, Narendra Modi is going to be very cautious about Nitin Gadkari.
16:27 So therefore, if you look at it from that perspective, red flags on Nitin Gadkari is
16:36 very natural, isn't it?
16:39 That's the point I wanted to make through this editorial and till I see you next time,
16:42 that's day after tomorrow at 10 o'clock.
16:45 Namaskar.
16:46 ♪ ♪
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