BJP not abandoning Hindutva: Advani

New Delhi, June 21 (PTI) Yet to come to grips with the
electoral debacle and the bickering, the Bharatiya Janata
Party on Sunday sent out a strong message that it would not
abandon Hindutva or snap its links with the RSS but party
veteran L K Advani sought an end to the finger-pointing by
senior leaders in the media.

The party rejected its President Rajnath Singh's offer
owning responsibility for the defeat, saying "victory and
defeat" a collective responsibility has been the tradition of
BJP.

"Everyone has asked him (Rajnath) to continue his
work. We don't hold any individual accountable. We will all
work together," senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters
at the end of the two-day national executive.

Already smarting under attacks from senior leaders
like Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, the
two-day national executive of the BJP, which concluded on
Sunday, also witnessed heated exchange of words between Maneka
Gandhi and two Muslim leaders on Varun Gandhi's hate speeches
and chief ministers cautioning leaders against ignoring the
Muslims.

In the first major speech on the party's performance,
Advani, whose bid for prime ministership failed in the
elections, said honest introspection was necessary but open
airing of views is wrong.

"We should not be found wanting in honest
introspection. But introspection is different from
finger-pointing. Let us treat the outcome of the elections as
behoves a mature and highly resilient party," Advani said in
his concluding remarks at the executive.

In a veiled reference to the attacks by leaders like
Jaswant Singh, Sinha and Shourie, Advani said leaders and
workers should feel that there is an internal mechanism where
even critical views can be placed.

"The only constraint on the participants in this
exercise, which is an important part of the BJP's culture of
discipline, is that they should not air their critical views
in public," he said.

The emphasis on collective responsibility, as pointed
out by Venkaiah Naidu, is seen in party circles as an effort
to cushion former general secretary Arun Jaitley, who was
BJP's chief election strategist, from attacks by several
senior leaders. PTI TEAM
SRU