BJP veterans unhappy with party’s response, says one should take

Patna-born Vineet Abhishek, an IIT-Kanpur alumnus working for a start-up in California, feels uncomfortable about the victory of the Grand Alliance “given the Lalu factor”.

Nitish Kumar, who is set to take oath as Bihar Chief Minister fourth time, will not have a deputy CM in his cabinet.

After facing humiliating defeat in the Bihar assembly elections, the BJP is under fire from its own senior party men over its poll campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I’ll find out if Varanasi has become Kyoto as promised by Modi, the MP from Varanasi”, he said in a dig at the prime minister.

“During the campaign, local BJP leaders were sidelined and ignored”, he said, adding, “There was no logic to raise issues such as beef and that firecrackers would be burst in Pakistan if the BJP loses”.

The BJP leader also blamed the present leadership for undermining the influence of the old guard – an apparent reference to L.K. Advani. It shows that people have hopes of moving Bihar forward.

Another paper The News worldwide also brought Modi down a peg, using “extremism” and “religious intolerance” as synonyms for the BJP.

The BJP’s failure to rein in their leaders from making inflammatory comments on the unfortunate Dadri lynching incident nor taking action on them, was an ominous indication for them in the Bihar polls. This may have been Modi’s last chance to win a state election before the spring of 2017.

IR expert Dr. Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema said, the policies of BJP were not good for bright future of Indian Nation.

The joint statement, signed by former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, followed a meeting of the leaders that was also attended by former central minister Arun Shourie, who has publicly blamed Modi, Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the Bihar defeat.

In Bihar, Amit Shah may have camped in the state for months, attempting to ensure the BJP and its allies come to power. However, the coming together of Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar helped consolidate the Muslim vote and acted as a force-multiplier in the assembly elections. “Our commitment is the states which need to develop more we have to help them more”, Jaitley said. The party not only managed to sweep the Hindi heartland, it also made a dent in unlikely places. The RJD bagged the maximum number of seats -80, followed by 73 of the JD (U) and 26 of the Congress. Both Mr Nitish Kumar and Mr Lalu Prasad held that the verdict would have national implications.

Joshi said that there is a general feeling among Congress workers that Rahul Gandhi should immediately take over as the party president.