Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP leader L K Advani. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP leader L K Advani.

Rumblings within the BJP over the debacle in Bihar increased Tuesday as seven more MPs from the state spoke out against the party leadership with one of them saying the Prime Minister shouldn’t have tried to stoop to “the level of Lalu Prasad” and focused on the development plank during the assembly election campaign.

These MPs said the central leadership was to blame because they had not been kept in the loop. At least two MPs alleged money had changed hands during distribution of party tickets.

Bhola Singh, in his second term as MP from Begusarai after eight terms as an MLA, blamed party president Amit Shah’s handling of the election and the Prime Minister’s “cheap and undignified language” for the defeat.

“Instead of sabka saath sabka vikas (development plank), Prime Minister started talking about cow meat and Shah on Pakistan. When the electorate tried to find a Prime Minister in Modi, he tried to come down to the level of Lalu and tried to outwit him. But Lalu remains Lalu,” Singh told The Indian Express.

“Amit Shah imported a senapati from Gujarat. He brought (Navsari MP) C R Patil. Neither he nor any other from the central leadership consulted me or the other Bihar MPs. Seat distribution happened on the basis of ‘marketing’, not on the basis of grassroots-level connections,” he alleged.

A former home minister of Bihar, Bhola Singh said the BJP’s attempts to become a ‘Mandal party’, following RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks on caste-based quota, went wrong. “BJP’s attempts to advocate Mandal was like a crow trying to dance with feathers borrowed from a peacock. The crow will remain a crow. Hum kamandal waale party hain. We cannot defeat them on Mandal, because they (Lalu and Nitish Kumar) are its masters,” he said.

“Mandal-Mandal ladaai mein kamandal udaas ho gaya,” he said, suggesting that there was erosion in the BJP support base among the forward castes. He said the party failed to provide a “convincing challenge to Nitish Kumar’s chief ministerial post”. He also blamed central government policies for the defeat. “After onion, their policies also snatched away dal and subzi from the plate.”

Rama Devi, MP from Sheohar, echoed Singh, saying BJP prospects took a hit with the manner in which tickets were distributed. “No one asked the MPs. Those who were looting got tickets again. Tickets were given to those who did not deserve it because money played a role. People like us who work at the ground level were replaced by those sent from Delhi,” she said.

Of the 10 Bihar MPs who The Indian Express spoke to, eight blamed the central leadership’s “unilateral” decisions for the debacle. The BJP and its allies could win only 58 seats in the 243-seat House. At least five MPs said the timing of Bhagwat’s remark on reservation was “wrong” — on Sunday, within hours of the defeat, Madhubani MP Hukmdev Narayan Yadav and Buxar MP Ashwini Choubey too said the RSS chief’s remark was “untimely”.

Hari Manjhi, a two-term MP from Gaya, Ajay Nishad, MP from Muzaffarpur and son of former Union Minister Jainarain Prasad Nishad, said the party failed to take into account the caste-combination of the electorate.

“The Gaya district president was given a free hand. Since this area has a high concentration of Kushwahas, the party should have given tickets to Kushwahas,” Hari Manjhi said, adding that BJP ally Jitan Ram Manjhi could not transfer Mahadalits votes to the BJP.

Nishad agreed with him and said: “Bhagwatji’s ill-timed comments went against the party. The issue of development disappeared from the election scene.” Ujiarpur MP Nityanand Rai said Amit shah should not have made the “pakistan remark”. Development, the main agenda of the Prime Minister, disappeared from the campaign, he said. “Everyone spoke more than what was required. This derailed the party’s agenda.”

Jhanjharpur MP Chaudhary Birendra Kumar cited another reason for the defeat: “Women voters, who already had a soft corner for Nitish Kumar because of cycle distribution among school girls, became disappointed with the BJP due to the negative campaign. The Prime Minister’s DNA remark went against us. The party has to think now about these issues.”

Another Bihar BJP MP, who did not wish to be named, criticised the leadership’s “style of functioning” and said the party should have “recognised” those who work instead of “placating” others. “It has become a tradition in the party to give plum posts to those who wander in power corridors. Look at Delhi, all those who were responsible for the defeat in Delhi election, have been given posts in the party. No minister was asked for an explanation.”

But not all Bihar MPs blamed the leadership for the defeat. Janardan Singh Sigriwal of Maharajganj said it was “effective social engineering” that helped the Mahagathbandhan. “We should have convinced our voters more effectively. We will do an introspection, discuss district by district, and resolve issues,” Sigriwal said.

Gopalganj MP Janak Ram maintained that the Prime Minister’s image was still intact. He said it was the “caste-game” of the rivals that hit the BJP. “It became backward vs forward, thanks to the opposition. This is anyway bad for Bihar,” he said.

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