By IANS
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at its national executive meeting Monday discussed the party's defeat in the crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly elections earlier this year, but did not allow several senior leaders to participate in it.
BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar had a hard time explaining why neither former state chief minister Kalyan Singh nor former Allahabad MP Murli Manohar Joshi could speak on the topic.
"No, it was decided that only the members from other states will speak and those from the same state will only hear (their views). This was the case for all the five states that came up for discussion," he said.
The state party presidents read out a brief report and the floor was left open to the "outsiders".
In the case of Uttar Pradesh, state unit president Kesri Nath Tripathi read out the report.
The BJP mainly blamed the "smear campaign" alleging nexus between it and the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav for its defeat.
Rajnath Singh will reply to the debate Tuesday, said Javadekar.