RSS chief’s comment had no negative impact: Rajnath

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday rejected suggestions that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s quota review remark had a negative impact on the NDA’s prospects in Bihar and said social equations of the grand alliance had cost the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led grouping dearly.

Singh also asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot be held responsible for the NDA’s humiliating defeat.

“Bhagwat’s statement was not damaging. It was nothing controversial. We can’t think like that. He had only said that reservation should continue,” Singh said. Bhagwat had said there is a need to have a fresh look as to who should get the benefit of quota, which kicked up a political storm ahead of the Bihar polls.

“Social equations of the  Mahagathbandhan hamare upar bhari padi (social equation of the grand alliance cost us dearly),” he said when asked for reasons that caused NDA’s defeat. The Minister laughed when asked if Modi would resign as the PM, taking moral responsibility for the BJP’s defeat. He said: “What kind of question is this? It’s the BJP’s loss and not of the PM,” he said.

Singh, a former BJP chief, also ruled out the possibility of party chief Amit Shah being removed over the Bihar debacle. “Amit Shah will remain as the party chief for six more years. There is no hurdle. In fact, he got one-and-a-half years of my own tenure (as party chief) when I had moved from the party to the government. After that he is entitled to two terms (of three years each),” he said.

Singh said the BJP would analyse all aspects of the party’s defeat in the polls and take action accordingly. The Home Minister admitted that the results had puzzled him as there was good public response during BJP’s rallies.

Asked about controversial statements made by some party leaders to whip up communal tension, Singh said: “If there is any secular party in the country, it is BJP.” 

Asked about the possibility of BJP joining hands with the JD(U) in case the Nitish Kumar-led party parted ways with Lalu Prasad’s RJD, the Minister said: “I don’t want to talk about that. It is not proper. We want a stable government in Bihar. They got a mandate. Let them run the government.” 

Singh ruled out that the Bihar poll debacle would affect the party’s prospects in the Assembly elections in UP scheduled for 2017. “We are confident about UP,” he said.

On the allegation that arrogance had crept in among certain party leaders after the Lok Sabha poll win, he said had it been the case, the party would not have won Assembly elections in Haryana and Jharkhand and civic body polls in Ladakh, Assam and Kerala, which was “unexpected”.

He said there was no discussion about action against Shatrughan Sinha and RK Singh, who had expressed resentment against the BJP leadership for certain decisions during the Bihar polls, at the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting on Monday.

Asked if the Bihar results had given an opportunity to Opposition parties to revive the ‘Third Front’, Singh said it was unfair to draw a conclusion just because of one BJP defeat. 

Singh denied that the PM had ever spoken about the DNA of Nitish Kumar. He also dismissed the suggestion that several BJP leaders were not listening to the party chief and continued making controversial statements. “How the party is standing if no one listens to the party president,” he said.

Meanwhile, asked about the possibility of a reshuffle in the Union Cabinet, the Home Minister said that was the PM’s prerogative. He said there has been no decision on the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in the Assam and West Bengal Assembly polls scheduled next year. “When the election comes, we will decide. The BJP Parliamentary Board will take a call on it,” he said.