'Hoping to win by a margin of 500,000'

It was 11.30 at night but even after a hard day of roadshows and a public meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in neighbouring Ramtek, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister NITIN GADKARI, contesting Lok Sabha election from Nagpur as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), spoke to Aditi Phadnis about projects finished and unfinished, his dreams and convictions, at his residence in Nagpur.

So, a victory with a bigger margin than before? You won the 2019 election by a 220,000 margin?

I have told my workers to strive for 75 percent of the vote for the BJP in Nagpur. I told them there was no doubt about the victory, but that we should strive to improve our vote share. In 2019, I got 55.6 percent of the vote. We should improve it this time. I am hoping to win by a margin of 500,000.

This constituency has a 40 percent Dalit and Muslim population. Many from these sections will vote for me because I have done a lot for the constituency.

You have been all around. You will have seen the development Nagpur has undergone.

Besides being from the BJP and Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh, I have done a lot of seva (service) for everyone. I have organised more than 45,000 heart operations and helped thousands of cancer patients. I have five mobile vans. They provide prosthetic equipment, and do eye check-ups... during the pandemic, I spent 100 crores to buy and distribute help kits, ventilators, oxygen checking machines, sanitisers, Remdesivir injections...

I consider the people of Nagpur members of my family. I do not say this idly. I have never discriminated against anyone, regardless of caste, community, or political belief. Even Congressmen have helped me in many ways.

You've been president of the BJP. You contributed to the building of the party ahead of the 2014 elections. But in the south, the party has not been able to establish itself. This is what is keeping the BJP from crossing the 400 plus mark the Congress was able to achieve (in 1984). Why is that?

In the south, politics was polarised right from the beginning.