BJP sources said the leadership was reaching out to party veterans, including former deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who publicly demanded that leaders be held responsible for their election defeat in the pivotal and populous state of Bihar.
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However, In a press release issued from Nagpur Friday, Gadkari stated: “Party elders together with Advani and Joshi are our extremely revered leaders and neither I nor another party functionary has ever proven any disrespect to them and there was completely no query of anybody suggesting calling for an evidence from them and never the least demanding disciplinary motion towards them”. Home minister Rajnath Singh is also in favour of holding talks with the veteran leaders over the issue. “People gave absolute majority to one party after a gap of 30 years”, the Union minister said. They have not come out against Narendra Modi, they have just made a comment on our strategy about Bihar. The trio, along with another senior leader, Shanta Kumar, had attacked the top BJP leadership over the party’s performance in the Bihar polls, and demanded accountability be fixed for the drubbing. To counter Mr Modi, major political parties in Bihar got together to form an alliance they said was “secular”, which in India these days means something that is BJP-free.
Meanwhile, Gadkari defended Modi and Shah, saying everyone in the party was responsible for the Bihar debacle.
UP BJP leaders are now openly critical of the party high command’s decision to fight the Bihar elections without projecting a chief ministerial candidate.
Tejaswi, his brother Tej Prasad Yadav, who also won, and mother Rabri Devi were seated on the dais when the RJD chief warded off persistent questions on who would be the RJD Legislature Party leader in the new House.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister and former party president Venkaiah Naidu told journalists that it would have been better if these issues were raised in a party forum rather than public. “We will take note of these concerns and discuss with all concerned people”. “It is because of his appeal that we managed a creditable performance”, Rao said.
The RSS has always been uncomfortable with the fact that Mr. Shah, the closest aide of Prime Minister Modi controlled the party organisation when the government was already controlled by Mr. Modi. “To say that everyone is responsible for the defeat is to ensure that no one is held responsible”, they further added. “The Bihar debacle is the collective responsibility of the party and not of any individual”. No other BJP leaders were as visible through the election as Modi.
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Former UP BJP presidents Om Prakash Singh and Surya Pratap Shahi also urged the senior BJP leadership to introspect the causes of defeat in Bihar and Delhi. As Arun Shourie, who has turned from a vocal supporter to a devastating critic said, the Prime Minister seems to have lost the plot and has gone back on all that he had promised to do.
