Modi arrives for the meeting in Mumbai, (above) file picture of Joshi. (AP)

Mumbai, May 24: Narendra Modi has humbled party chief Nitin Gadkari and his patron, the RSS, forcing the resignation of long-time adversary Sanjay Joshi from the BJP’s national executive in exchange for endorsing an extension for Gadkari.

After Joshi quit the two-day conclave that began here today, Modi, who had planned to boycott the event because of the disgraced-but-rehabilitated RSS man’s presence, turned up at the post-lunch session.

By forcing Gadkari and, by implication, the RSS to buy peace with him, Modi has underscored his pre-eminence among party chief ministers and seems to have secured for himself a place at the high table with L.K. Advani, Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.

From today, nobody in the BJP is likely to scoff at the suggestion that Modi could lead the party to the 2014 general election as its “face”.

The RSS was keen that Gadkari have a second term as BJP president but this required an amendment to the BJP’s constitution. Advani, Jaitley and Sushma, however, had made it clear that such an important decision could not be taken in Modi’s absence.

Modi had virtually tied his endorsement of an extension for Gadkari and his attendance at the conclave to Joshi’s ouster from the party’s higher echelons. He had skipped the previous national executive in Delhi in September, too, after Joshi’s return to the party.

Sources said that last night, when Gadkari met senior leaders such as Sushma and Jaitley, they told him it was “highly impolitic” to endure a second “boycott” by Modi, more so just months from the high-stakes Gujarat polls.

“Assuming that Gadkari had got an extension despite Modi’s silent opposition, what if he made it clear that Gadkari was unwanted for campaigning? What kind of a message would have gone out?” a source said.

The leaders decided that if Joshi was the “stumbling block”, he should be asked to move out of the way. Sources said the Sangh, resentful of the way Modi had browbeaten its outfits in Gujarat into submission, too saw the “folly” of getting the chief minister’s back up for Joshi’s sake.

They said Modi had conveyed to the RSS that if it thought so well of Joshi, it should deploy him in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.

Gadkari then called Joshi, who had already reached Mumbai, hoping that his appearance despite Modi’s opposition would give him a chance to grandstand against his adversary.

Joshi, who does not hold a party position but had been invited as a special delegate by Gadkari, apparently told the BJP chief that if he was a “thorn” in someone’s “flesh”, he would willingly pluck himself out.

Gadkari later told journalists: “Joshi showed large-heartedness and offered to quit.”

As Joshi left after attending the pre-lunch session, Modi signalled from Udaipur in Rajasthan — where he was attending Rana Pratap’s birth anniversary celebrations — that he would be at the post-lunch sitting.

Modi did so, with all the other delegates from Gujarat, who had taken the cue from their chief minister and avoided coming to the meeting till then.

Sources said Modi had been “deeply distrustful” of Joshi since they worked together in Gujarat in the 1990s. Although Joshi was an RSS favourite, he had to be dumped after a sex CD purportedly featuring him was circulated at another Mumbai party conclave in 2005.

Since his recent rehabilitation, Modi has suspected Joshi of egging on his state rivals such as Keshubhai Patel to work against him in the run-up to the Assembly polls.

Gadkari’s alleged failure to act against Keshubhai, who recently slammed Modi publicly, apparently confirmed the Gujarat chief minister’s suspicion that the BJP president and Keshubhai were out to scupper his poll prospects.