Can’t be blamed for debacle: BJP

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 15

The state BJP leadership has condemned Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s statement holding BJP responsible for a poor electoral performance of the SAD-BJP alliance.

The reaction comes in wake of a video clip of Harsimrat Kaur while attending the “bhog” of a party worker in Mansa yesterday, saying that “the decline in the urban vote share is due to the poor performance of our alliance partner, which they could have improved.”

Former BJP president Kamal Sharma called her statement “totally unwarranted”, while former minister Madan Mohan Mittal termed her “utterances as those by an immature mind in politics”.

When asked to elaborate on his response, Mittal said: “I would rather avoid offering any comment on the issue because young people often make an error in choosing their words.” Kamal Sharma said: “It was uncalled for to blame the poll loss on anyone before a fair review. We need to seriously deliberate on the possible cause and not indulge in any blame game or mudslinging at this juncture.”

A senior party leader said: “Her statement has put a serious question mark on our alliance. In case, she feels that our party was responsible for the poll debacle then she accepts that we have a major impact in the state. Why then we were given a paltry share of only 23 seats of the total 117?”

A senior leader from Jalandhar said: “Many of our senior leaders who spent their entire life in the BJP never got a chance contest polls just because of this alliance. They could never contest elections. The party needs to seriously consider to go solo or redraw the alliance ratio.”