BJP’s LS secret: We lost due to rampant infighting

‘‘Even though a leadership change has been ruled out by the parliamentary board, detailed discussions on the BJP’s plight in Gujarat may make significant changes,’’ said a senior leader, hinting that the internal report will open a Pandora’s box in Mumbai. According to this leader, it took pro-Modi leaders like Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, I.K. Jadeja and Vijay Rupani ‘‘hours of fire-fighting’’ in Delhi to bring about a change of heart in the Vajpayee camp.

The internal report, compiled by state BJP president Rajendrasinh Rana and general secretary Sureshbhai Gandhi, is said to be a sizeable list of examples of how infighting led to the defeat of BJP candidates in many of the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat. Both Rana and Gandhi are tight-lipped about the report but party sources said that ‘‘personal enmities among senior party leaders’’ and a resulting ‘‘total lack of coordination’’ have been identified as causes for the electoral setback.

There is hardly any mention of the post-Godhra riots as a factor for the poll results, said sources.

Rana, who will present the report in Mumbai, said he had considered all aspects of the party’s poll-time organisational arrangements and circumstances. ‘‘As impartial examiners of the pre-poll and post-poll situations, we have not refrained from calling a spade a spade in our report,’’ Rana said.

Rana and Gandhi will be in the Mumbai conclave along with Modi, Rajya Sabha member and leader of the anti-Modi camp Keshubhai Patel, and Surat MP Kashiram Rana.

State Agriculture Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, who is one of Modi’s most trusted men, sought to downplay the report’s worth, saying: ‘‘There’s nothing earth shattering in it. The media is reading too much into it.’’ Borrowing a phrase from Vajpayee, he said: ‘‘Dissidence in Gujarat BJP is now a thing of the past.’’

Most of the 12 BJP leaders who lost LS polls say they were not consulted when this report was prepared. ‘‘I don’t understand what kind of report they have made. They never asked me why I lost in my constituency or why I think the BJP fared badly,’’ said Dilip Sanghani, who contested for the Amreli seat.

‘‘This must be a one-sided report aimed more at serving narrow interests of some people than bringing out the real problems in the party and exposing people responsible for the loss,’’ said Chandresh Patel, who lost from Jamnagar. Liladhar Vaghela (Kapadvanj) and Nitin Patel (Mehsana) described the report as a ‘‘superficial attempt’’ to assess the situation. However, Gandhi maintained that inputs were taken into consideration for the report.