Ensure next Nagpur mayor is from BJP, Gadkari tells party workers

Nagpur, Dec 20 (PTI) Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday appealed the local BJP workers to ensure that the next mayor of Nagpur is from the saffron party.

Speaking at a gathering of the BJP Yuva Morcha here ahead of the January 15 civic elections across Maharashtra, he said the BJP was a party with a difference.

The development works carried out in the city by the BJP-led government so far were only a trailer, and the "picture is yet to start", said the senior BJP leader who represents Nagpur in the Lok Sabha.

The municipal corporation under the BJP will make Nagpur one of the best and beautiful cities in not only the country but the world, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways said.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Centre and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra, Nagpur will get a triple-engine government if it elects a BJP mayor, and the city will then undergo a transformation, he said.

While giving tickets, the workers who have the people's support and who are dedicated to the party will get preference, Gadkari said, adding that caste, religion and language will not be the criteria.

"We (BJP) are different from others and we work for ideology, principles and development," he said.

He also urged party workers to campaign harder in North and South Nagpur assembly constituencies (which have Congress MLAs).

In the last elections to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, the BJP had won 108 out of the 151 seats, Congress 28, undivided Shiv Sena two and undivided NCP one seat. PTI COR CLS KRK