By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday distanced itself from the comments of Sudheendra Kulkarni, a key aide of L.K. Advani, that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was responsible for the BJP’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls.
“The BJP distances itself from the remarks of Sudheendra Kulkarni. It is his personal analysis as an independent journalist,” the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told reporters here.
“Neither the party nor Advaniji agree with his analysis or his views on the RSS,” she said.
Writing in the Tehelka newsmagazine, Kulkarni, who was a key poll strategist of the party, blamed the BJP leadership and the RSS for the debacle in the elections and said they made Advani “look weak, helpless and not fully in command”.
While he urged the party to introspect, he said the “the RSS needs it no less. Its leaders must ask themselves, and answer the question honestly and earnestly. Why is the acceptability of the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad limited in Hindu society itself?”
He said the party “did nothing” while its allies started moving away because of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Sushma Swaraj said there were several reasons for the party’s defeat not just one and “these would all be looked into at a meeting of the national executive (of the BJP).” It meets June 20 and 21.