Nagpur: Union minister Nitin Gadkari today defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah over the stunning defeat in Bihar Assembly polls.
"Blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah for Bihar poll defeat is unjust," Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.
Gadkari demanded stringent action against those making irresponsible statements against Modi and Shah. He also ruled out Amit Shah's ouster as BJP President following the party's debacle in the Bihar elections on Sunday.
On Tuesday however, replying to LK Advani and company's criticism after the devastating loss in Bihar, senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Venkatesh Naidu and Nitin Gadkari, had issued a statement saying that the party would certainly welcome any guidance and suggestion of their seniors in this regard.
Seeking to defend its leadership from the attack by its veterans, the BJP on Tuesday tried to put the ball back in their court, saying the "healthy precedent" of collective responsibility for poll victories and defeats was set by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani himself.
The BJP also said it would certainly welcome any guidance and suggestion of "our seniors", shortly after Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Shanta Kumar raised a banner of revolt against the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah in the wake of Bihar poll debacle.
The BJP response came by way of a joint statement issued by three Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari, all former BJP Presidents. "The Party has been very fortunate to have been led by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shri LK. Advani for decades.
They had set a healthy precedent of the Party collectively taking up responsibility for victories and defeats. The Party would certainly welcome any guidance and suggestion of our seniors in this regard," the brief statement said.
Reacting to the rebellion of veterans in the BJP, Congress, though refusing to comment directly, had said it speaks volumes about the functioning and authoritarian style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, which the main opposition has been highlighting over past 15 months.
Party spokesman and former minister Manish Tiwari had said while it was an internal matter of the BJP, the manner veterans in the BJP, who had lead the party from two seats in the Lok Sabha to making it a ruling party, were sidelined and isolated speaks of Modi's mind and work style.
Another spokesman Abhishek Singhvi had said the BJP and Modi have not learnt any lessons from the poll debacle in Bihar. In an apparent reference to the BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha's diatribe against the party, Singhvi said what was a matter of worry was that no action was initiated against Vijayvargiya even after he made a derogatory statement against his party colleague which kicked up a row.
Singhvi said what is being witnessed was the politics of deception as the PM was "running with the hares and hunting with the hounds" to keep the core constituency happy, as also the RSS which has got the "remote control".
"The finance minister attributes the defeat to (party) motormouths but, sir, where is the concrete action taken? What is the use of the finance minister giving us all the homilies when neither he nor his party's top leadership has taken the slightest action," Singhvi asked.
