BJP veterans should not have raised Bihar poll loss issue publicly, party

Shivamogga: Bharatiya Janata Party national vice-president and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has taken exception to veteran leader L.K. Advani’s views against the party’s present leadership following the Bihar Assembly election debacle.

On Tuesday, the veteran leaders said the Bihar defeat showed that the BJP had learnt nothing from its crushing defeat by the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi in February.

In a brief but strongly worded statement, BJP veteran leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Shanta Kumar said that the party has been “emasculated” and was being “forced to kow-tow to a handful”. “They have said things against the strategy but not against Modi”, union minister Venkaiah Naidu said.

The Bhojpuri singer-turned-politician said the party failed to convince the people to vote for BJP candidates in the keenly-fought Bihar elections. “I am in Himachal (Pradesh) and I have nothing to say over the developments”, he said.

“Modi and Shah alone can not be held responsible for the party’s poor show in Bihar”.

The BJP lost the state election in Bihar, India’s third most populous state, on Sunday to a political alliance led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “We are going to face five Assembly elections in 2016 and another five in 2017 and the party leadership should do a few serious introspection before this”.

Gadkari, along with two former presidents, Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu, had issued a statement on the party’s behalf soon after the veterans shot off the letter.

The minister said that instead of raising the issue publicly, they should have raised it privately in party forum. At the same time, the BJP would refrain from taking a combative tone towards the party elders and would avoid ruffling feathers further, sources said. At least nine MPs also spoke out against the way in which Mr Shah handled the Bihar campaign.

“Prime Minister Modi proved his image as a decisive, dynamic and oriented leader by changing the perception of India globally, mobilizing the investment for which he became recognised as a world leader in a short span”, Naidu said.

In an apparent bid to whip up support for the party among Hindus, a few senior BJP members made remarks that sounded as if they were justifying the killings. In the case of Bihar elections, every important decision was taken at the top and the state leaders did not have much of a role other than acting and working according to the diktats from above.

He warned the BJP of a similar fate in Jharkhand if the workers, government and the party organisation did not work in tandem.