‘Ignoring old-timers BJP’s grave mistake’

Ranchi: Less than a week after the Bihar assembly election results were announced in which the NDA suffered a major drubbing, old-timers in the saffron party have started grumbling against the top party leadership.
Karia Munda, a former Lok Sabha deputy speaker and eight-time MP from Khunti, feels rejecting old-timers and party workers during elections was one of the gravest mistakes of the party, which led to its miserable performance in Bihar.
“In Bihar, top party leaders (without taking names) completely ignored workers who are involved in mobilizing voters in favour of the party and there was no coordination between the two. If this was one reason, the other was that the strategists did not deem it fit to hold consultation with the core group, which also includes senior leaders (including himself) who could have shared their suggestions and experience to swing votes in favour of the party. I have myself tried to get an appointment with party president Amit Shah a number of times, but have not met with success so far,” said Munda over phone from his Khunti residence.
Moreover, he added, merely giving a hearing to partymen will not help unless one accepts the ground reality and acts on it.
Despite being a veteran, he also sounded a tad hurt that he was not asked to campaign in the neighbouring state even though chief minister Raghubar Das and former chief minister Arjun Munda made tours in various constituencies of Bihar.
The tallest tribal leader in the BJP, Munda said with elections round the corner in West Bengal and UP, the party should rethink its strategy.
“Rather than trying to project a larger-than-life image before the voters, the party should try to make some inroads into Bengal where the Trinamool would be looking for alliance partners,’’ he said.
Himself an old Sanghi, Munda, however, felt during elections the comments made by any leader should be guarded and timed carefully.
He was indirectly referring to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s suggestion that it was time to revisit the Bihar reservation policy in the midst of Bihar polls, which many feel was one of the factors that maligned the BJP’s image.
“Its always better to think before you speak special during elections,” he said.