Leaders seek accountability during key BJP meet

Strong demands for accountability for the Lok Sabha debacle were voiced on Saturday at the Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive meeting in which party President Rajnath Singh acknowledged a qualified responsibility on his part and announced a Committee to go into the defeat.

But the party chief as well as others made it clear there was no question of giving up Hindutva ideology or severing ties with RSS in the aftermath of the second successive defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.

Leaders like Arun Shourie and Jaswant Singh, who have been raising questions over the way the party was being run, raised the demand for a complete and thorough introspection into the debacle and not brushing aside of issues.

Shourie, in particular, was critical of party leader Arun Jaitley, whom he did not name, when he said that those responsible for the defeat have skipped the executive meeting, but would be doing the "chintan baithak" (brainstorming session) to be held after the Budget session of Parliament.

He also wondered why Rajnath Singh should take responsibility alone because there were others responsible for the defeat.

L K Advani, the party's failed prime ministerial candidate, was present throughout the day's deliberations, but will make his address tomorrow. Jaitley, the chief strategist in the election and blamed by many as one of those responsible for the defeat, was away vacationing in Europe.

Yashwant Sinha, who had last week attacked the party leadership, was also not present as he is no longer a member of the National Executive having resigned from all his party posts.

Jaswant Singh, who has been taking potshots at the leadership on rewarding of those responsible for failure with posts in parliamentary party, hinted that he may not contest elections and that he would not take any post.

Shourie also demanded an inquiry into how his letter to the party president was leaked to the media.

Acknowledging that Shourie demanded a mechanism for ensuring accountability, party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that a three-member Committee has been set up, but did not divulge their names.

Another senior leader Vijay Goel said the party lost the elections due to internal strife and regretted that no accountability was being fixed for the defeat. He also said that no action is being taken against those responsible for the loss.

Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the party needs to have re-look at alliance partners in the state, especially against the backdrop of the BJD ditching the party in Orissa at the last minute.

He is understood to have warned of a similar situation in Bihar where the BJP and JD-U share power. BJP leaders from the state fear that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar might break the alliance at the last minute and go it alone in the Assembly elections due in a year.

Jaswant Singh, who had attacked the leadership over appointments in the parliamentary party after the election defeat saying there was no link between performance and rewards, expressed anguish over media reports that he was reluctant to give up the office in Parliament he had enjoyed as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

He said the debate in the party had come to such a level that petty matters were being raked up. In this context, he said he had given up a career in army to join politics.

A veteran and former Chief Minister Sunder Lal Patwa asked the partymen not to lose heart saying this defeat was nothing compared to the days when even saving deposit in an election used to be celebrated.

But he expressed concern over leaders going to the media over party affairs and indulging in leaks. In his inaugural address, Rajnath Singh sought to put a lid over the blame game and bickerings in the party over the Lok Sabha debacle saying that success and failure are a "collective responsibility", but acknowledged a qualified responsibility on his part.

In the midst of calls from within on the nature of relationship between BJP and RSS and its reliance on Hindutva, he said Hindutva was to BJP what Constitution is to the politics of the country and ruled out severing links with the Sangh.

In his address to the Executive amid demands for introspection over the debacle and fixing of responsibility, Singh said: "Success is a collective credit and failure is a collective responsibility. Therefore, we must collectively find out the solution. Yes, if anyone feels that any person should take the responsibility, then as the President of the party, I am willing to take this responsibility."

Declaring that Hindutva is the "national essence of India" and has been "eternal, liberal and tolerant", he rejected suggestions that the party's policies based on the feelings of staunch nationalism are faulty.