Yashwant Sinha meets Advani, M.M. Joshi

Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, who signed the statement issued by the BJP old guard on Tuesday demanding a "thorough review" of the Bihar assembly poll debacle, met party leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday amid rumblings over the Bihar fiasco.

Sinha, however, refused to comment over the meeting, saying: "I have nothing to add except that I met Joshiji and Advaniji."

The former MP from Hazaribagh constituency (Jharkhand) met both the leaders separately at their respective residences.

Two days after the BJP was routed in Bihar, the party old guard took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, demanding a "thorough review" of the debacle and added that it can't be done by those who were responsible.

In a virtual challenge to Modi's leadership, who became the prime minister in May 2014, former party presidents Advani and Joshi, and former union minister Sinha and former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar said the Bihar defeat showed that the BJP had learnt nothing from its crushing defeat in Delhi.

Shanta Kumar, when contacted by IANS, refused to comment. "I am in Himachal (Pradesh) and I have nothing to say over the developments," he said.

He, however, added: "It's a good sign that party leaders have initiated dialogue process."

Earlier in the day, union minister Nitin Gadkari said the BJP was discussing the issues raised by party veterans after the Bihar rout and denied he had attacked them, including Advani.