Advani-led BJP old guard back in action after Bihar poll debacle, says 'fix accountability for the defeat'

The first sign of trouble within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the debacle in the Bihar Assembly elections has already emerged.

The camp of veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani has targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the loss of the BJP in Bihar.

According to sources, senior leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha have sought answer from the party leadership on the cause of the defeat against JDU-RJD-Congress Mahagathbandhan.

The veterans want blame to be fixed for the loss, and have issued a joint statement in this regard.

The statement says that the party leadership can't get away by saying everyone is responsible.

Tageting party president Amit Shah, the senior leaders have also asserted that the "review of the defeat cannot be done by people who managed the campaign in Bihar".

"The Bihar debacle shows that no lessons were learnt from the Delhi fiasco...consensual character of the BJP has been destroyed," said the statement.

The statement has been signed by Yashwant Sinha on behalf of the senior leaders.

This demand has also been backed by former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar.

Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had led the campaign in Bihar from the front by addressing as many as 26 rallies, and reaching out to voters across all phases.

This comes even as the party earlier on Tuesday issued whip on leaders, asking them to refrain from making any statement on the issue.

The whip authorised only the party spokespersons to comment on the issue of Bihar. Sources said that the BJP has decided to take action against those who make remarks on the poll loss.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders like Shatrughan Sinha and Bhola Singh gave out statements in the media criticising the party's strategy in the Bihar polls.

Begusarai MP Bhola Singh had hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party top brass for the debacle saying BJP should not have strayed from the development pitch.

He said that the party should have refrained from raising issues like beef as they did not help its cause. Singh also said that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's remarks on quota made matters worse for the party.

This came a day after BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, and showered praises on the JDU leader. He had termed Nitish Kumar as the tallest leader in Bihar.

Sinha, who has been vocal in criticising the BJP's strategy in Bihar polls, had said that while he had not done any anti-party activity, he could not stop the party from taking action against him.

On Monday, the BJP had also held a Parliamentary Board meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah over the loss in Bihar. Following the meeting, senior party leader and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that it was the formation of Mahagathbandhan, and not RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's quota remark, behind the poll debacle.