Caste unity did damage: Jaitley

In a bid to insulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Bihar poll drubbing, the BJP on Monday stated that they miscalculated the Grand Alliance’s caste consolidation which led to the defeat. 

A day after the Grand Alliance, comprising the JD(U), RJD and the Congress, won a 2/3rd majority, BJP president Amit Shah convened the party parliamentary board meeting to analyse the humiliating defeat, the second after a similar drubbing in Delhi polls in February.

The party sources said they felt that the three parties in the Grand Alliance would not be able to transfer each other’s votes, given long held social incompatibility among castes the JD(U) and RJD respectively represented among the OBCs and Dalits.

“The main reason for defeat seems to be that in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the RJD, JD(U) and the Congress fought independently. We were wrong in thinking the Grand Alliance won't be able to consolidate votes due to other small and regional parties,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after the meeting.

Modi and senior ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari were also present in the meeting.

The  vote shares of the JD(U), RJD and the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections put together came to 45 per cent, while it came down marginally to 41 per cent in the Assembly polls, said BJP sources.

Similarly, the NDA’s vote share was 38 per cent in the 2014 elections and declined by 4 per cent in the Assembly polls and partners the LJP,RLSP and the HAM (Secular) did poorly to pull down the NDA’s prospects, sources added. 

In the meeting, BJP sources said, a section of senior leaders felt the need to shield Modi from the criticism that the prime minister should not have addressed more than 31 rallies in Bihar.

“Losing an election with such a huge margin is not that big a set back in comparison to people debating that Modi was losing political currency,” said sources, expressing party’s fear. As the NDA did not declare its chief ministerial candidate, Modi took the onus on himself to spearhead the campaign and even posters primarily had his and Shah’s photographs, pushing local leaders to the margin.