With rumblings in the Bharatiya Janata Party getting louder over its crushing defeat in Bihar, State party leaders and MPs too have highlighted the alleged mistakes during the campaign and demanded that responsibility be fixed.
Following in the footsteps of the three senior BJP leaders — L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha — party MP Bhola Singh from Bihar criticised both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
“The party had lost direction during the poll campaign and so it was bound to fall in the ditch,” Mr. Singh told The Hindu .
Mr. Singh, who represents Begusarai, accused Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah of stooping low in the campaign. “Instead of sabka saath sabka vikas [development plank] the two leaders stooped to the level of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad.”
He also charged that while selecting candidates, only ‘imported leaders’ were consulted.
Similarly, other BJP leaders and party MPs such as Rama Devi, Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, Hari Manjhi, Ashwani Choubey and Ajay Nishad too expressed displeasure over RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remark over “reservation review”.
“The timing of Mr. Bhagwat’s remark was wrong and uncalled for during the campaign — it went against the party,” they said.
Another State party MP, Nityanand Rai, said, “Mr. Amit Shah should not have raised the issue of Pakistan. Remarks made by some leaders cost the party heavily.”
Maharajganj MP Janardan Singh Sigriwal and Gopalgunj MP Janak Ram said the party “needs to introspect.”
It was bound to happen: Nitish Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, referring to the murmur of protest in the State BJP, said on Wednesday: “It was bound to happen in view of the high-profile campaign undertaken by the BJP…every action has an equal reaction.”
Mr. Kumar said a Cabinet meeting would be held on November 14 to recommend the dissolution of the Assembly.
“The date of the swearing-in ceremony will be decided after that,” the JD(U) leader said.
