Kalyan Singh boycotts UP strategy session

But Singh, who was projected as the party8217;s chief ministerial candidate in the state, boycotted the deliberations. Singh was in Western UP on both days and let the party brass know that he was not interested. He wanted to discuss the issue only in the presence of party patriarchs L K Advani and A B Vajpayee, said sources. Tripathi did not site any reason for his absence.

Singh has not been getting along well with party President Rajnath Singh. Singh could not show his winning streak during the elections despite his projection as the middle caste face of the party and the future Chief Minister.

After his own son lost the Assembly election, Singh8217;s utility in the party is being questioned. Tripathi, who was Speaker of the previous UP Assembly, is alleged to have helped Mulayam Singh8217;s survival as Chief Minister and made the BJP look like an active collaborator of the regime.

The BJP is yet to recover from the UP rout and veteran Advani has called for introspection at the recent national executive of the party.

Advani particularly wan-ted to know why did the party8217;s trusted social base8212;the Brahmins8212;isolated the party this time and why did the party fail to project itself as the viable and only alternative to the Samajwadi Party? The two deliberations were based on questions raised by Advani, but the party refused to share details of the outcome.