BJP failed to learn lessons

NEW DELHI: For the second time in six months BJP got convincing evidence that its brand of politics is not relevant any more. And as the party
reeled under the effect of the comprehensive drubbing it received in Delhi and nationally there were introspection and hushed accusations. It was reminiscent of a December day exactly half a year ago. For the party the cause of concern is, it took no lessons from the assembly elections. It repeated the mistakes and blissfully played out the second part of the infighting saga that had cost it Delhi Assembly. In short, it was payback time for some people who had queered the pitch for their own partymen aspiring to go to the Assembly and were now in the running for a Lok Sabha berth. On record though there were statements like this being a "vote for stability'' and one that wanted to keep away "smaller parties and their bargaining ways''. Delhi BJP chief O P Kohli dismissed suggestions that the party had chosen wrong candidates. "Our choice of candidates was right and they have delivered. Moreover, they were well received by the voters in their areas. The way the polling patterns have gone reflects that there was an undercurrent which all of us failed to see and gauge. This undercurrent was to keep out a fractured verdict and have a stable government in place. Somewhere people felt that of the UPA alliance and NDA alliance the former could provide a stabler government." In private through BJP insiders admit that party strategists worked on their perception of Delhi the way it was in 1993, failing to factor in the huge migrant population. The greying leadership did not help in getting the youth votes and a complete dearth of charismatic second generation leaders further did them in. There was on the one hand a party (Congress) which was spinning dreams and on the other a party (BJP) that had no dreams of its own to peddle but was happily punching holes in other people's dreams. The results were only a final confirmation of what jittery BJP candidates had been talking about off the record since the day of the elections. One candidate who had almost come to blows with an MLA from his area talked about how three MLAs were going to script his ruin. He was proved right. The party leadership's inability to quell leaders who threw tantrums of quitting its fold to get tickets of their choice, made them make too many compromises in candidate selection. The candidate in question was routed.