TNN
 
New Delhi, Dec 10: After the poll setback in Rajasthan and Delhi, murmurs of dissent and recrimination are growing louder in BJP, as the party faces the task of recasting its principal planks of terrorism and price rise ahead of what now looks like a very open Lok Sabha election next April.

The disappointment at failing to decisively trump Congress surfaced at the meeting of the BJP parliamentary board on Monday with party veteran Murli Manohar Joshi criticising the manner in which the campaign was run in the two states and "lack of coordination" that marred its prospects.

The rumbling over the slip-ups that led to the poll defeats was evident soon after the results began to come in. And while Joshi's comments are seen as his way of getting back at arch rival L K Advani whose projection as PM-in-waiting he has not reconciled with, the view that BJP's wounds are self-inflicted has more than a few takers.

With BJP stumbling in the "semi-finals", Joshi might be tempted to feel that the pecking order in the party can yet be reworked. He would not be only one as other leaders might also see an opportunity to assert themselves at a time when the central leadership appears a house divided. Differences have hardly been bridged with the official faction seeing the electoral jolt as an opportunity to assert its control over the party.

In Rajasthan, the meddling of central leaders and RSS lobbying is seen to have been a factor in BJP's ticket distribution being flawed. If Vasundhara Raje was seen to be a somewhat aloof chief minister, her task was not made easier with tickets being in several seats being allotted primarily out of factional considerations, often at the cost of influential local leaders. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar described the inability to curb rebels as "hit wicket in Rajasthan".

BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu was election in-charge of both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. While he was able to oversee a smooth operation in MP, the Rajasthan situation was compounded by the assertive manner in which the state organisation and Sangh placed their demands.

The defeat in Delhi is rankling and the knives seem to be out with former minister Vijay Goel, who had felt sidelined during the campaign, saying that the party had "lost a golden opportunity and suffered a setback". He had been unhappy over the choice of candidates and opposed nominees like trader leader Praveen Khandelwal in Chandni Chowk. Naidu said, "It was time for analysis and candidate selection had caused a lot of damage."

BJP president Rajnath Singh said local issues had prevailed in the Delhi polls, and sought to brush off criticism of projecting V K Malhotra for CM by saying that voters had made up their minds long before the polls. Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was election in-charge of Chhattisgarh, said a "younger CM candidate (Malhotra is 78) may have helped." Referring to Arun Jaitley who oversaw the Delhi campaign as a "good friend", Prasad said, "Jaitley could have been a better candidate."

Though BJP was able to retain two big states like Chhattisgarh and MP, there is a strong feeling that the party blew its chances in Delhi and Rajasthan. The Capital is seen as a valuable prize and a win would have been a major morale booster as BJP which sees the city as being receptive to saffron politics since the days of Jan Sangh.

There is a realisation that the party will have to go back to the drawing board in order to make its message on terrorism much more credible. The party divisions and confused response on the Hindu radicals arrested for the Malegaon blasts as well as it last-minute bid to encash the Mumbai attacks have created a huge hole in its credentials.