BJP veterans assail party leadership for Bihar defeat, says no lesson learnt from Delhi

"The results of Bihar election show that no lesson has been learnt from fiasco in Delhi," said the joint statement, signed by  Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha, all sidelined by the party since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah took the reins.

The statgement, released on Tuesday evening, does not name anybody in particular, but reprimands the leadership in strong words.

"To say everyone is responsible for defeat in Bihar is to ensure no one is held responsible. It shows those who would have appropriated credit are bent on shrugging off responsibility for the disastrous showing in Bihar," the leaders said.

"A principal reason for the latest defeat is the way the party has been emasculated in the last year... A thorough review must be done of the reasons for the defeat as well as the way the party is being forced to kowtow to a handful and how its consensual character has been destroyed," the statement added.

It said the review of poll results  "must not be done by the very persons who have managed and who have been responsible for the campaign in Bihar."

Later at night, the BJP released a counter statgement   issued by three former BJP leaders- Rajnath Singh, M Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari, taking a dig at the senior rebels. It remindedthem that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and  Advani had set a "healthy precedent of the party collectively taking up responsibility for victories and defeats."