RSS says Kiran Bedi was a mistake, roasts BJP brass for Delhi loss

New Delhi, Feb 17: What BJP has been shying away from saying publicly, RSS has said in its mouthpiece 'Panchjanya'. In its latest issue, the fortnightly has raised questions on the choice of Kiran Bedi as the chief ministerial candidate for Delhi even as it pointed out how ignoring party workers may have cost BJP in the polls.

In its two-part cover story titled 'Akankshaon ki Udaan' (flight of aspirations) and 'Vaade, Sawaal, Kejriwal' (promises, questions, Kejriwal), the RSS mouthpiece says, "The question is why did BJP lose? Was the decision to make Kiran Bedi CM candidate correct? Would the results have been different had Harsh Vardhan or any other BJP member from the state been chosen as CM candidate?"

The piece written by Manoj Varma also asks if BJP failed to take to the masses the achievements of the Narendra Modi government and if the party was too dependent on the Modi wave. Hinting again at how Bedi's candidature worked against the party, the piece says, "Or did BJP lose because of lack of unity in the organization, planning and most importantly respect for the sentiments of the workers?"

Another piece written by Hitesh Shankar raises questions on the BJP leadership itself. It says, "BJP office-bearers will have to answer if they have any capital other than Sangh's ideological strength and commitment of party workers. If some people in the organization and the government thought that the party is some kind of machine than can gallop at their whim, these results have broken that illusion. It is with the party workers' dedication and commitment to the nationalist ideology that BJP has been able to retain its vote share."

It has also questioned the approach taken by BJP office-bearers towards projection of certain members. "Were BJP functionaries overconfident of their extreme acceptability among public? Or did some push for individual acceptability among people a little too much," said the piece.

While BJP members in private have admitted to many of the "mistakes" hinted at in 'Panchjanya', the party has officially maintained that the responsibility of losing the elections is collective and that it is still analyzing the loss.

However, several BJP leaders express similar concerns. "The very fact that we lost our safest seat in Krishna Nagar (Kiran Bedi's constituency) shows that not only BJP office-bearers but even workers have not supported the party in the polls. Selection of Bedi sent a message that we had a leadership crisis. Workers didn't like this," said a BJP leader.