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Updated: Dec 24, 2018 07:40 IST

A day after he was reported saying that leadership should take responsibility for defeat in politics, Union transport minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nitin Gadkari on Sunday stated he had been misquoted and a section of media was trying to create wedge between him and his party leadership. Gadkari on Saturday had said there are no takers for failure, unlike for victories in electoral politics.

Gadkari’s comments had raised eyebrows in the political corridors as came in the backdrop of the BJP’s defeats in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh assembly elections two weeks ago. The remarks were perceived as a stand against the party’s central leadership.

While speaking at an even organised by Pune District Urban Cooperative Banks Association Limited, Gadkari had said on Saturday, “Success has many fathers but failure is always an orphan. Similarly in the politics too, there will be race to garner credit for success, but in case of failure, fingers are pointed at others. The responsibility of the failures should be taken by the leadership and in absence of such owning of the failure their loyalty and commitment towards the organisation.”

Read: Leadership should own responsibility for failure, says Nitin Gadkari

He had further said, “Sometimes banks achieve success and sometimes they face failure. Likewise, in politics, when there is a failure a committee is formed to review it, but in case of success, nobody comes forward to discuss.”

However, Gadkari issued a statement on Sunday saying the reports were part of a “sinister campaign” by some opposition parties and a section of the media. “It was an attempt to malign me and my party by twisting my statements and use them out of context and draw politically motivated inferences. I have time and again refuted such insinuations and once again condemn these malafide and mischievous out of context reports attributed to me. Let me make it clear once and for all that conspiracies to create a wedge between me and the BJP leadership will never be successful,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Union minister again made a controversial statement on Sunday in Sangli while inaugurating the Tembhu irrigation project .