Bihar elections: No respite for BJP from criticism after poll debacle

Bengaluru/Nagpur: BJP failed to get any respite from its MPs on the Bihar poll debacle but two senior ministers on Friday sought to placate the dissenting veterans saying their views would be given due consideration. One of the ministers, Nitin Gadkari, himself a former President of the party, denied that he had suggested disciplinary action against veterans - L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha, who had issued a strong statement targeting Modi-Shah duo for the Bihar drubbing. [caption id=“attachment_2505068” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI image.[/caption] The rumblings in the party over the Bihar loss continued today with party MP R K Singh supporting the veterans’ demand that accountability be fixed for the drubbing. “Accountability has to be fixed. Review should be made of the election debacle. We need to find out what went wrong, who were responsible. That’s what ‘margdarshak mandal’ said,” Singh, the Ara MP, said in a reference to the statement of the veterans. The former union home secretary, who during the campaign had spoken against the choice of candidates of BJP-led NDA, claimed BJP gave tickets to people with criminal background, stressing that some of them were not “ordinary criminals” but those on whom government had declared reward. “We thought we were a party with a difference. We will give a clean government…. Then you give tickets to criminals. That is very bad, very sad,” Singh said. Manoj Tewari, MP from Norh-East Delhi who was one of the leading BJP campaigners, joined other BJP leaders in criticising the party’s campaign in Bihar and lauded the strategy of JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance as “undoubtedly better”. The Bhojpuri singer-turned-politician, who is a Lok Sabha member from Delhi, said the party failed to convince the people to vote for BJP candidates. “We clearly failed to convince people of Bihar on our party’s agenda. Undoubtedly, the strategy of grand alliance (of JDU-RJD-Congress) had been proved better than ours. We could have campaigned in a more strategical way to reach out larger masses,” said Tewari, who represents North East Delhi in Lok Sabha. A number of Bihar BJP MPs like Shatrughan Sinha, Hukumdev Narayan Yadav and Bhola Singh have criticised the party’s campaign with likes of Sinha and Singh drawing the top party brass in their line of fire. As BJP grappled with the situation in the wake of Bihar verdict, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu felt that the veterans should have raised their views at a party forum rather than going public. He asserted that the country and the party needed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership but said the BJP “will take note of these views and concerns.” “Some of our senior leaders have raised certain issues. It would have been better if these issues were raised in a party forum rather than public, but still we will take note of these views and concerns.” “We will discuss with all the concerned. The parliamentary board has already decided to take up with all the concerned and discuss the shortcomings that led to the defeat in Bihar. That has been the practice,” Naidu said. He said Modi has been instrumental in lifting the pride of the nation among the people of India and the world. Defending BJP President Shah, Naidu said he played an important role in drawing party strategy and organising the campaign during the elections. “The BJP lost 2004 Parliamentary elections I was the President, Atalji was the leader. 2009 also we lost to UPA 2 when Advaniji was the leader. We also lost some state Assembly elections.” Naidu said “winning and losing happens, we never held any individual or for that matter group of individuals responsible for these defeats.” “It has never been the culture of the party to blame any individual for the future of the party. Elections are won and lost as a result of collective effort…..” he added. Noting that Advani has immensely contributed to the growth and expansion of BJP, Naidu said “he has been instrumental in turning monopoly politics in India led by Congress into a bipolar one shared between Congress and BJP.” The minister said BJP had always believed in inner party democracy and it was “unfair to say its consensual tradition is given a go by.” He also said “we have progressed under the leadership of Advaniji and Atalji. We are proud of it. There is no second word about it.” Responding to a question about the BJP veterans’ open revolt, Naidu said, “they have not come out against Modi. They made a comment about strategy in Bihar. They have not said even a single word against Modi.” “It is sections of media who have highlighted in a way as their headline…” he said. To a question about comments by leaders like Advani affecting BJP’s image, Naidu said, “the party is capable of taking all this….We have seen it with a proper positive side, we will discuss all those issues. That is what has been taught to us all these years.” Stating that Bihar election results would not have any effect on national politics, Naidu said state elections are for electing Chief Ministers, not Prime Minister. Meanwhile, Gadkari, who had demanded action against those making “irresponsible” statements, said today the BJP central leadership was discussing with the party’s veterans the issues raised by them and denied that he had suggested disciplinary action against them. In a statement here, Gadkari said that party elders including L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi “are our highly respected leaders and neither I nor any other party functionary has ever shown any disrespect to them and there was absolutely no question of anyone suggesting calling for an explanation from them and not the least demanding disciplinary action against them.” “Reports in a section of the media indicating that I have suggested to the party president Amit Shah to initiate disciplinary action against them are absolutely incorrect and misleading,” the Union Minister said. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is also against any action against dissenters. Singh, BJP sources said on Thursday, was of the opinion Advani and Joshi have experience and have contributed immensely to the growth of the BJP, so the party should listen to them. The Home Minister is said to be in favour of examination and analysis of what the veterans had said and decisions taken for the overall good of the BJP. Such decisions should be acceptable to all, the sources said. PTI