Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to reverse course and engage with opposition leaders if he is to salvage his economic reform programme, senior aides said on Monday, after he suffered a humiliating Bihar defeat.
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A statement issued late Tuesday by four former ministers, Lal Krishna Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Murli Manohar Joshi and Shanta Kumar, says the principal reason for the defeat is the way the party has been weakened in the a year ago, indirectly accusing Modi and party president Amit Shah of concentrating too much power in their hands.
The statement followed a meeting of the leaders at Advani’s residence and then at Joshi’s where former central minister Arun Shourie, who has blamed Modi, Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the Bihar defeat, was also present along with former BJP ideologue K.N. Govindacharya.
Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was hammered in Bihar by a regional alliance, even though the 65-year-old leader addressed more than 30 rallies across the poor eastern state of 104 million people.
Whatever the reasons for defeat, the BJP’s politicos will be studying the reasons for the party’s failure in Bihar and will look to potentially recalibrate their electoral strategy moving forward to other important state elections, notably Assam early next year. Kumar, the chief minister of the state, has been credited with a strong record on development and corruption. “The statement only helped the Grand Alliance”. Though the result in Bihar signals a challenge to the nationwide popularity of the ruling BJP-led alliance, it is also a sign that Biharis largely approve of Kumar’s governance record in the state. Dubbing the BJP as a “communal party”, Gogoi said, it would not be able to make any impact in the state.
But voices of discontent have been steadily mounting in the BJP since the Bihar results came out on Sunday. “It should not be interpreted as a mandate to obstruct parliament”, Venkaiah Naidu told reporters in New DelhiFitch Ratings agency director, Thomas Rookmaaker, said investors were unlikely to be deterred by the defeat, and expected the government to move ahead with making India easier place to do business. Of 40 available seats, the JD(U) experienced a net loss of 18 Lok Sabha seats in those elections to the BJP’s net gain of 10.
He has not met party president Sonia Gandhi, even though Congress successfully blocked legislation during the last parliamentary session and frustrated several of Modi’s key reforms.
“We see that Rajnath Singh coming forward and saying that RSS chief is not responsible, BJP chief is not responsible, PM is not responsible, it is something ridiculous”.
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“The party will discuss this matter on various other forums including with senior leaders and attempt to overcome the shortcomings that led to the adverse verdict in Bihar”, it said.
