Voices of discontent in BJP today brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah directly in the line of fire over the Bihar debacle with a senior MP accusing them of injecting communalism in the campaign as the party once again rushed to the defence of the top two.
The BJP also asked party leaders to observe "restraint" in their comments as Home Minister Rajnath Singh also stepped in to build a firewall around RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat saying his quota remarks did not cost the elections.
Rajnath Singh asserted that Modi cannot be held responsible for NDA's humiliating defeat. Turning the knife, a senior RSS pracharak from Gujarat made oblique comments on the BJP leadership saying non-admission of mistakes due to "arrogance" causes more damage.
After Shatrughan Sinha and two other MPs--Hukumdev Narayan Yadav and R K Singh--attacked the party over the Bihar loss, Bhola Singh, two time MP from Begusarai in Bihar, today joined the chorus and went to the extent of accusing Modi of using "indecorous language".
"People went to Modi looking for a Prime Minister but they found a Lalu in him," he said, in the first direct attack on Modi by a BJP leader after the party crashed to a humiliating defeat.
To a question if Modi and Shah communalised campaign by raking up issues like reservation for Muslims and Pakistan, he said, "Definitely. For what else will you raise the issue of cow or Pakistan. The campaign should have been about Bihar's backwardness and its development but we lost our way and fell into a ditch."
While Modi lost his dignity during the campaign, Kumar remained dignified and "did not become animal in the battle field", he said.
"Prime Minister fell to Lalu's googly and left his 'sabka saath sabka vikas' pitch. He started speaking in Lalu's language. He began using undignified language while Nitish Kumar did not forget decorum even in the battle field.
"Prime Minister is the mirror of the nation. He enjoys the nation's trust. But when people went to Modi looking for a Prime Minister, they found a Lalu in him. So they went to Nitish who was dignified," the eight-time Bihar MLA who is serving second term as MP said.
