Digvijay trains gun on PM after BJP veterans attack

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today asked whether RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat would pay heed to the comments made by BJP veterans post the debacle in Bihar as he has lost his faith in the former.

"Will Mohan Bhagwat ji pay attention to the views put forward by the BJP's Margdarshak mandal? He has lost hoped from Modi ji," he tweeted.

The BJP has defended its leadership from the attack by party veterans over the crushing defeat in Bihar. In a statement last night, the BJP said the healthy precedent of collective responsibility for poll victories and defeats was set by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani.

The statement issued by three Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari said the party will certainly welcome any guidance and suggestion from senior leaders.

The statement came shortly after Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Shanta Kumar issued a joint statement saying Bihar results show that no lesson has been learnt from the fiasco in Delhi Assembly elections.

The BJP veterans said the principal reason for the defeat in Bihar is the way the party has been emasculated in the last one year. They also targeted party leadership for saying that everyone is responsible for party's defeat.

The BJP, which entered the political battle field in Bihar pitching its developmental agenda, could only win 53 seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, the party's star campaigners, failed to work their magic on the voters in Bihar.

The Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance comprising of the Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress won 178 seats in the 243-member house even as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won just 58 seats.

The RJD was on top with over 80 percent strike rate, followed by about 70 percent of the JD (U) and the Congress' 65 percent.

The winning percentage of the BJP, which put up a worst show in the state in 10 years, was about 33 percent.

The people of Bihar imposed their faith in Nitish Kumar yet again, giving him fifth innings as the Chief Minister.

In the 2010 assembly polls, the BJP had won 91 out of 102 seats it contested with a strike rate of nearly 90 percent.