With the BJP grappling to come to terms with its resounding defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today became the first senior leader to publicly question the party’s strategy during the campaign saying “the execution of Afzal Guru is hardly an election issue” and “development alone will yield results in elections” because “vikas alone is Hindutva”.

His remarks assume significance since his name was repeatedly mentioned by

L K Advani when the party floated the name of Narendra Modi as “the next Prime Ministerial candidate.” More so, when Advani and Modi’s refrain during the campaign was to slam the UPA on the Afzal issue saying “if Afzal Guru had been Anand Singh (or Anand Mohan), he would have been hanged.”

The BJP won 16 of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, down from 25 in 2004 but still creditable given the party’s performance elsewhere in the country.

Defeated candidates in Uttar Pradesh were critical of the party’s decision to parachute Narendra Modi for their campaign. Jaswant Saini, BJP candidate who lost in Saharanpur said: “Although Muslims are not on our target voters, there are other communities who get hurt by Modi’s loud talk. We were quite apprehensive when we were told that he was coming for campaigning but we could not do anything”.

Speaking to The Indian Express after attending a meet of BJP chief ministers at the residence of party leader L K Advani, Chouhan called for vigorously espousing the ‘bijli-sadak-paani” agenda and reminded the party that the “country always yearns for a united response in face of terror attacks.”

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