Advani, Joshi raise a banner of revolt

Advani, Joshi raise a banner of revolt

New Delhi: Knives were out in BJP on Tuesday, 10 November 2015 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.

Two days after the Bihar election results, these leaders took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, and demanded  "a thorough review" of the debacle but said it can't be done by those who were responsible.

In a virtual challenge to Modi's leadership since he led the BJP to power in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Shanta Kumar said the Bihar defeat showed that the BJP had learnt nothing from its crushing defeat by the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi in February.

The joint statement, signed by former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, followed a meeting of the leaders that was also attended by former central minister Arun Shourie, who has publicly blamed Modi, Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the Bihar defeat.

"The result of the Bihar election shows that no lesson was learnt from the fiasco in Delhi," the hard hitting statement said.

"To say that everyone is responsible for the defeat in Bihar is to ensure that no one is held responsible."