In a deeply polarised Lok Sabha where the opposition and the government are often at loggerheads, Union minister Nitin Gadkari often comes as an exception. Gadkari came in for some effusive praise from the opposition and Lok Sabha MPs of the ruling party for the way he was handling the road, transport and highways ministry.
What appears to work in favour of the minister is his ability to engage with the opposition MPs and non-BJP state governments in putting projects on fast track and finding solutions to vexed issues. As the Lok Sabha was discussing the demand of grants of the road and transport ministry, MPs hailed Gadkari for listening and agreeing to their demands.
Kerala MP N.K. Premachandran said Gadkari was the best minister in the Modi cabinet. Premachandran said he was satisfied with the assurances given by the minister that he withdrew his 21 cut motions moved by him demanding changes.
TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay called Gadkari 'sapnon ke saudagar' (dream merchant) for promising too much. Responding to the backhanded compliment Gadkari said that as a minister, he has tried to fulfil all his assurances, and if there was any unfulfilled promise, it should be brought to his notice.
Gadkari follows a system of meeting MPs from different states to resolve their issues. In such meetings, he calls the state officials for instant resolution of problems. He invited all the MPs to give his suggestion and added that he would try to respond to the suggestions discussed during the House session, within a month.
BSP MP Danish Ali said as a minister, Gadkari was gracious enough to always agree to the demands of the members.
A few months earlier also, Gadkari was praised for his work inside the house when UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was present. She also had expressed her appreciation of the minister.
As some of the opposition members from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu claimed that their states were being overlooked, Gadkari gave out figures to underscore that he made no such discrimination.
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The minister's assurance to the House that he would discuss with the finance minister to give the MPs a say in the Central Road Fund (CRF), which is used to build roads in states, was received with thumping of the desks by the MPs. CRF is a non-lapsable fund created out of cess/tax imposed by the Union government on consumption of petrol and diesel. The fund is utilised to develop and maintain national highways and state roads.
Gadkari, who is pushing for electric vehicles, said he got the idea to develop lithium batteries in India after products were not available in India and had to be imported. “While traveling in a plane, I read an article about ISRO sending satellites to space on indigenously developed batteries. I then called ISRO experts to find a solution to develop such batteries to be used in buses. We may get some solution in the next a few years,” Gadkari said in the House.
When leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, raised concerns over China buying mines from where lithium ore is sourced in different countries, Gadkari said, "We have to import and there is no doubt about it. We have lost the opportunity."
