Rajnath meet with Bhagwat creates buzz ,
New Delhi : It was a drubbing of grand proportions; it was a defeat far worse than the lowest figures of the exit polls. As the NDA’s tally nosedived after an initial lead for one hour, Brand Modi seemed to have hit a new low. The BJP and its allies put together could barely make it to the 60-seats mark. From the 26 rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a whopping strength of at least two dozen central ministers stationed in Patna and the booth-to-booth marking of Amit Shah, nothing worked for the party in the end. As senior leaders preferred to stay away from the party headquarters at Ashok Road, spokespersons tried their best to shield the top leadership from the near-massacre situation arguing that the ‘‘Bihar result was a state issue and not a referendum on the performance of the Modi govt.’’
However, this could not suppress the cadres and middle rank office-bearers from whispering about the fate of BJP president Amit Shah. With two successive defeats in Delhi and Bihar, both equally humiliating, Shah is no more the electoral magician he was touted to be after the spectacular victory in Uttar Pradesh during the Lok Sabha polls. Knives may be out soon in the organisation as a disastrous ticket distribution, solely handled by Shah, is being pointed out as one of the principle reasons for the massive defeat besides Shah’s alleged arrogance.
Besides, the horribly timed Mandal comment of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, an overdoing of Jungle Raj slogan and the blatant efforts at polarization, particularly after the first two phases, proved the undoing of the party. The extremely disappointing performance of the BJP’s allies also cost it dearly. Coming back to Shah, the Bihar battle was projected as a litmus test for Amit Shah since it was his opportunity to get back the credibility he had so badly lost in Delhi. Now that the opportunity has been lost squarely, questions are bound to arise about whether Shah would be able to continue after this year. It may be remembered that Shah is currently serving the left over term of Rajnath Singh who joined the government as Home Minister last year. The term gets over in January and efforts are already underway to start the prolonged process of organisational elections soon.
Rajnath Singh’s forty minute meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday created a flutter as sources confirmed that the Bihar results figured in the talks. Meanwhile, party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed that there was no question of any leadership change. ‘‘Amit Shah is our president and he will continue to be so,’’ Vijayvargiya declared. However, indications of unrest became visible early in the day when another general secretary P. Murlidhar Rao demanded strict action against MPs Shatrughan Sinha and RK Singh who had openly revolted against the party leadership during the polls. Another well known detractor, Arun Shourie, said Modi had polled only one third of the total votes in the Lok Sabha. However, his performance was exceptional because the rest two thirds were completely divided. ‘‘In Bihar the rest two thirds consolidate into one alliance and therefore the defeat,’’ the former party leader analysed.
