AMN /
Dissident BJP MP Mr. Shatrughan Sinha has again tried to target Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi over Bihar poll debacle. While speaking to reporters in Nagpur last night he said the ‘credit’ for the seats won by the party in the state goes to Mr. Modi and claimed that his attack on RJD Chief Mr. Lalu Prasad backfired. Mr. Sinha also said that the Bihar voters had understood that the announcement of economic package was a poll gimmick.
The actor-turned-politician, who had been sulking after he was left out of the electioneering, said the BJP fetched 53 seats only because of the aggressive campaigning by the party leadership. He also opined that Mr. Modi was probably kept in dark about ground realities in Bihar by the state leadership. Outsiders were at the helm of affairs for electioneering, whereas the local leaders were deliberately kept out of the campaign, which the voters also took seriously and defeated BJP, he said.
The MP from Patna said the anti-incumbency factor did not work against Bihar Chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar and the day the Grand Alliance of Janata Dal (United)-Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress was formed, they had won half the election. The campaign leaders of BJP could not understand the under-currents prevailing against the party, he added.
Defending his meeting with Mr. Nitish Kumar after declaration of the poll results, which also raised many eyebrows in the BJP, Mr. Sinha said it was a courtesy call and not much should be read into it.