Rajnath accepts blame for BJP poll loss

The Bhartiya Janata Party's national executive met in New Delhi on Saturday. Speaking at the meeting, party president Rajnath Singh said there would be no compromise on ideology.

"There is no need to blame people for poll loss. As the BJP president, I take responsibility for poor election results," he said.

He also said that people like said Atal, Advani and Upadhyay raised the party and their role couldn't be questioned.

The BJP held a press conference at the party headquarters after the meeting, where party spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad described Hindutva as eternal.

"It is not a defeat for the party at the national level and India is going toward bipolar politics," he said.

He also said that the party believed in collective responsibility.

Over the last few weeks, there has been one showdown after another, with many senior BJP leaders like Jaswant Singh, Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha raising their voices of rebellion.

While their letters criticised the way the party approached the election campaign, many felt that the source of discontent was actually a war of succession.

All these leaders were disappointed that LK Advani had chosen Arun Jaitley as the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Sushma Swaraj as his deputy in the Lok Sabha.

Last Saturday, party president Rajnath Singh had imposed a gag order on his colleagues but Arun Shourie's letter released at the office bearer's meeting on Friday, seemed to defy that. Shourie had said the party was being led by conspirators.