BJP reviews Ahluwalia's defeat in RS poll
5 May 2012 11:24 AM IST
Taken aback by the shock defeat of S S Ahluwalia in Jharkhand Rajya Sabha elections, senior leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) met on Friday to look into the factors that led to its former deputy leader of Rajya Sabha losing to Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
The meeting was attended by BJP Parliamentary Party Chief LK Advani, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and party leaders Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Ananth Kumar.
Kumar had been sent as an observer by the central leadership to work towards getting the required number of votes for their candidate.
Since the time elections were first declared, the party has been speaking in different voices. Initially Anshuman Mishra, an NRI businessman, had won the support of a section of BJP central leadership and he had even filed his nomination in the presence of the BJP legislators and Chief Minister Arjun Munda. Mishra however had to withdraw his candidature as there was resentment against his name and the party later declared it will not support him.
The BJP then fielded its senior leader Ahluwalia despite resentment from Chief Minister Arjun Munda and JMM leader Hemant Soren. What has surprised the party leaders is that despite an alliance with JMM in the state, their candidate finished a distant third with 20 votes, whereas the Congress candidate bagged 25 votes and JMM’s 23 votes.
The poor management of the elections can be viewed from the fact that two independent MLA’s who support the BJP-JMM colation government in the state, did not vote for Ahluwalia, even five other independent MLA’s voted for the Congress candidate.
After the meeting, Sinha said perhaps there was a need to put in more effort.
BJP leaders feel that Munda was concerned about not disturbing his relations with JMM as that could put him on a sticky wicket in the state.
The meeting was attended by BJP Parliamentary Party Chief LK Advani, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and party leaders Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Ananth Kumar.
Kumar had been sent as an observer by the central leadership to work towards getting the required number of votes for their candidate.
Since the time elections were first declared, the party has been speaking in different voices. Initially Anshuman Mishra, an NRI businessman, had won the support of a section of BJP central leadership and he had even filed his nomination in the presence of the BJP legislators and Chief Minister Arjun Munda. Mishra however had to withdraw his candidature as there was resentment against his name and the party later declared it will not support him.
The BJP then fielded its senior leader Ahluwalia despite resentment from Chief Minister Arjun Munda and JMM leader Hemant Soren. What has surprised the party leaders is that despite an alliance with JMM in the state, their candidate finished a distant third with 20 votes, whereas the Congress candidate bagged 25 votes and JMM’s 23 votes.
The poor management of the elections can be viewed from the fact that two independent MLA’s who support the BJP-JMM colation government in the state, did not vote for Ahluwalia, even five other independent MLA’s voted for the Congress candidate.
After the meeting, Sinha said perhaps there was a need to put in more effort.
BJP leaders feel that Munda was concerned about not disturbing his relations with JMM as that could put him on a sticky wicket in the state.
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