West Bengal BJP state president offers to resign

Rakesh Mohan Chaturvedi
Lucknow(Uttar Pradesh), June 4 (PTI) India's premier
opposition party, BJP's review of its performance in the
recently-held Assembly elections to five states saw its
eastern Indian state of West Bengal unit chief Rahul Sinha
offering to resign owning "moral responsibility" for the
party's defeat, but it was shot down by the top leadership.
During the discussions on BJP's dismal poll
performance in all the five states -- West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, senior party leaders made
efforts to know why their calculations went wrong.
Rahul Sinha, BJP state unit president of West Bengal,
told party President Nitin Gadkari that he was owning
responsibility for the party's poor showing in the state.
Gadkari, however, shot down the offer and said
responsibility could not be fixed on one individual and
resignation was not the solution to the problem.
Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) was hopeful of winning at
least one seat and getting around 50,000 votes in two other
constituencies but all projections went wrong, according to
party sources.
A section of the BJP has expressed its opinion in
muted tones that some of the central leaders who campaigned in
West Bengal and attacked TMC chief Mamata Bannerjee which
harmed the party's prospects.
"Everybody knew very well that this time there was a
wave in favour of Mamata. To criticise her would only have
polarised the votes in her favour. It would have been better
to target the Congress candidates and go all out against the
Left," a senior leader said.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani had spoken against Mamata
Banerjee and questioned her ability to be an effective
administrator.
In Assam, BJP leaders said the party lost as the
Hindus voted for the Congress in fear of Muslim votes
consolidating with Badruddin Ajmal's AUDF.
This led BJP voters in the Barak valley and other
party-strongholds to vote for the Congress to check the AUDF
wave, they said. AUDF is now the main opposition in Assam.
The failure to tie-up with AGP before the polls was
also a big drawback for the BJP as the voters felt their vote
will go waste as the right-wing party had no chances of coming
to power.
The BJP's performance in Tamil Nadu and Kerala was
also below expectations. There was some hope of winning a seat
in Kerala and making its presence felt in three other seats in
the state. However, these hopes came a cropper.
The opposition party is, however, happy that the Left
parties lost in West Bengal and Kerala.
It also feels that 2G spectrum issue, which the party
had raised vociferously which led to former Telecom Minister A
Raja's arrest, contributed to DMK's defeat in the Tamil Nadu.