New Delhi:
Shortly after the Janata Dal (United) snapped ties with the BJP today and targeted Narendra Modi without naming him, BJP President Rajnath Singh defended the Gujarat Chief Minister and the party's decision to appoint him as the head of the election campaign committee for 2014.
"To be successful in the general elections, we have made Narendra Modi the chief of the election campaign committee. Is that my mistake? Every political party creates a campaign committee for any elections. Was the JD-U angered just by this and snapped such old ties?" he said.
"If we made Narendra bhai (Modi) the head of the campaign committee, did we make a communal person the head? If an unfortunate riot occurred in Gujarat in 2002, should the chief minister be held responsible for it? Such riots also took place under Congress governments, but no one calls them communal," he added. (Highlights of Rajnath Singh's speech)
Snubbing the JD(U) for the split, Mr Singh said alliances work on the basis of faith.
"An alliance runs on the basis of faith," Mr Singh said while addressing the BJP's youth convention.
"In 2000, when the BJP had 67 legislators and the JD-U had only 34, we said that the JD-U is our younger brother... Bihar's chief minister should be from the JD-U. We accepted Nitish Kumar as chief minister," Mr Singh said.
"Why did the JD-U snap ties (with the BJP)? What was our mistake? They have disintegrated our emotional relationship of 17 years," he said.
JD(U) president Sharad Yadav had announced today that his party had ended its alliance with the BJP. He also quit as convenor of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
"To be successful in the general elections, we have made Narendra Modi the chief of the election campaign committee. Is that my mistake? Every political party creates a campaign committee for any elections. Was the JD-U angered just by this and snapped such old ties?" he said.
"If we made Narendra bhai (Modi) the head of the campaign committee, did we make a communal person the head? If an unfortunate riot occurred in Gujarat in 2002, should the chief minister be held responsible for it? Such riots also took place under Congress governments, but no one calls them communal," he added. (Highlights of Rajnath Singh's speech)
Snubbing the JD(U) for the split, Mr Singh said alliances work on the basis of faith.
"An alliance runs on the basis of faith," Mr Singh said while addressing the BJP's youth convention.
"In 2000, when the BJP had 67 legislators and the JD-U had only 34, we said that the JD-U is our younger brother... Bihar's chief minister should be from the JD-U. We accepted Nitish Kumar as chief minister," Mr Singh said.
"Why did the JD-U snap ties (with the BJP)? What was our mistake? They have disintegrated our emotional relationship of 17 years," he said.
JD(U) president Sharad Yadav had announced today that his party had ended its alliance with the BJP. He also quit as convenor of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
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