Want to keep working for people to bring positive change in their lives: Gadkari

PTI, Mar 23, 2024, 2:28 PM IST

Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said he wants to help people even in the smallest possible way and keep working for them to bring about a positive change in their lives.

In an interview to PTI, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said creating employment opportunities and ending poverty were the objectives with which the Narendra Modi government was working. Gadkari has been nominated by his party for the upcoming general elections from the Nagpur parliamentary Lok Sabha constituency for the third consecutive time. Speaking about various issues and his plans as a BJP candidate from Nagpur, he said, ”I want to keep meeting people. I believe that in public life, meeting people and helping them out in the smallest possible way is important. I want to keep working in the health and education sectors and serve the society as much as possible.” ”I tried to help people in their overall development with respect to creating employment, good infrastructure in terms of health, education, sports culture and improving their standard of living. I have made efforts on these fronts…More needs to be done and I will do so,” he said.

The Minister of Road Transport and Highways said that as part of his election campaign, he would reach out to every house, every person and every heart.

”I don’t believe in posters, banners and inducements. I will meet people, talk to them and seek their blessings. I want to keep working to bring about a difference in people’s lives,” Gadkari said. The former BJP president was fielded by the BJP from Nagpur, his hometown, first in 2014 and then in 2019. In the last Lok Sabha polls, Gadkari defeated Congress candidate Nana Patole, who is now the grand old party’s Maharashtra unit chief, by a margin of 2,16,009 votes. While Gadkari had polled 6,60,221 votes, Patole got 4,44,212.

To a query about his contribution towards the dream of ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India), Gadkari said he believes in working and people can see for themselves the work he has done. ”I just do my work. I won’t take credit for any work,” he said.

When asked which sectors he thinks could help more in achieving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of making India a USD 5 trillion economy and the third largest economy, Gadkari said, ”In our GDP, we will have to work towards manufacturing, service and agriculture sectors as they bring prosperity to villages, poor and farmers. Our objective is to create more and more employment opportunities for the people and remove poverty through various initiatives.” Replying to a question about which areas according to him hold immense growth opportunities, he answered water transport, ports, broad gauge metro, mass rapid transport on electricity like ropeway, cable car, funicular railway and sky bus. Gadkari, who is eyeing a third consecutive Lok Sabha win from Nagpur. said he has sought suggestions from people on how they want Nagpur to be developed in the next 10 years. ”I will get these suggestions by March 30, after which I will announce my vision,” he said.