New Delhi, June 13
The VHP today blamed former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani for BJP’s debacle in the recent Lok Sabha polls and asked them to repent “by taking political sanyas” instead of holding Gujarat responsible. Reacting sharply to Mr Vajpayee’s comment that Gujarat riots were responsible for BJP’s poor show, VHP’s international general secretary Praveen Togadia said in Ahmedabad “it was Muslims’ appeasement which led to BJP’s defeat.”
Insisting that Gujarat riots did not affect BJP’s prospects Togadia said had it been so, the party would not have got two-third majority in the state and won in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan after the communal violence.
New Delhi: Vishwa Hindu Parishad Vice-President Acharya Giriraj Kishore today criticised Mr Vajpayee for his view that not removing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi after the riots in the state was “a big mistake”. Acharya Kishore said the fate of the Bharatiya Janata Party would have been much worse if Mr Modi had been removed at that stage.
He also said it was unfortunate that BJP leaders tended to forget the Godhra episode while referring to the Gujarat riots.
— PTI
