The sudden resignation of a campaign manager of the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for Delhi, Kiran Bedi, over her “dictatorial” tendencies left red faces in the party on Monday.
Narendra Tandon, a former secretary of the BJP’s Delhi unit and an invitee to the State’s executive committee, sent his resignation letter to party president Amit Shah on Monday morning.
“I resigned from the BJP today because of Kiran Bedi’s dictatorial attitude. It was difficult for me to continue under her,” Tandon said in his resignation letter.
Tandon was general secretary of the Delhi University’s Students Union in the late 1990s during his stint with the students’ wing of the RSS, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He rose through the party ranks and later became secretary of Delhi BJP when OP Kohli was made the city unit chief.
Withdraws resignation Although Tandon later withdrew his resignation, claiming that it was an “emotional response”, an embarrassed BJP insisted that it had been accepted.
“He sent his resignation to the party president and it has now been accepted. What he says does not matter. The party has accepted his letter,” said Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay.
Upadhyay was sitting alongside Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, who arrived at the party’s office to unveil a blueprint for the development of better transportation in and around Delhi. The Minister, pressed for an explanation for Tandon’s resignation, said: “Forget Tandon. Satish Upadhyay will answer all questions related to that issue. And why are you taking all these issues and everything that the Aam Aadmi Party says so seriously?”
Gadkari labelled the AAP as a “confused/diffused party” which is “only fit for vermiculture”.