BJP veterans blame Modi-Shah duo for Bihar poll fiasco

Knives were out in the BJP on Tuesday night with veteran leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and two others raising a banner of revolt against the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of Bihar debacle, saying that the party has been “emasculated” in the last one year and was being “forced to kow-tow to a handful”.

In the first challenge to Modi since he emerged the undisputed leader of the party and the government in May last year, the veterans including Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha issued a brief but strongly-worded statement that demanded a thorough review of the debacle. “The principal reason for the latest defeat is the way the party has been emasculated in the last year.

 “A through review must be done of the reasons for the defeat as well as of the way the party is being forced to kow-tow to a handful, and how its consensual character has been destroyed,” the statement said. 

The statement is an apparent dig at the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s defence of the leadership on Monday after the Parliamentary Board’s review of the performance in which he had said “as far as accountability is concerned the party wins collectively and loses collectively”.

Earlier on Tuesday  a defensive Modi government softened it’s stance vis-a-vis the award returnees. In sharp contrast to Arun Jaitley’s earlier ‘manufactured rebellion’ jibe directed at award returnees,  Rajnath Singh on Tuesday extended an olive branch to authors, artists and scientists who have returned their national awards to come forward for a dialogue. In the backdrop of the Bihar results and the award wapsi controversy, the Opposition is expected to aggressively take up the issue in the upcoming winter session of Parliament.

“I reiterate my appeal to those returning awards to come and share their views with the government. Their suggestions are valuable and the government must deliberate on them with all seriousness,” Rajnath Singh told a press conference in the Capital. Regarding the debate on intolerance, Singh said, “I still feel dialogue is the best way out. I am willing to sit down with the intellectuals who are talking about intolerance and hear them out.”