Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh on Saturday owned up responsibility for the party’s poor electoral showing and stressed that there was no need to “single out one person” for the debacle.

He said if one person has to take the blame “I am taking reponsibility”.

This is the first major gathering of the party leaders to discuss the electoral failure.

Singh said that the poll outcome showed that the country was proceeding towards a bi-polar polity and defended the issuesof Hindutva raised in the election campaign.

However, Singh maintained that there would be no compromise on ideology and added that the party would not regret the issues rose during campaigning like communal reservations as they were in the “country’s welfare”.

The BJP got 116 seats in the Lok Sabha elections – down from the 138 in 2004.

The election campaign will come to an end on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in more places, ahead of Thursday’s Phase IV polling in 85 Lok Sabha constituencies in seven States and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Political canvassing is at its peak, as less than 24 hours are left for the end of public campaign. One of the most important state that will go to polls on Thursday, is National Capital Delhi. Polling will be held in all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi on May 7. The main battle will be between arch-rivals Congress and BJP. However, BSP may play a crucial role in some of the seats.

Union Ministers Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk), Ajay Maken (New Delhi) and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president J.P. Agarwal (North-East Delhi) and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s son Sandeep Dikshit (East Delhi) are in the ring. Mr. Ajay Maken’s (Congress) rival in the BJP is the former Union Minister, Vijay Goel.

In Delhi, BJP has been able to hold some advantage over the Congress, riding high on the personality of its Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani, issue of terrorism, price rise, black money in Swiss Banks and confusion among the UPA allies. However, it is to be seen if the party can convert those responses into votes.

In an interesting development, BSP candidate Haji Dilshad has withdrawn his nomination in favour of the Congress candidate JP Aggarwal from North East Delhi. He has decided to campaign for the Congress candidate.

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Congress on Friday announced the name of Vipin Kumar, son of former MLA and DPCC chief Ram Babu Sharma, for Rohtash Nagar assembly which fell vacant after the demise of his father.

The by-elections in Rohtash Nagar assembly will be held along with the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi on May 7.

Ram Babu Sharma had won from the seat in the November assembly election last year with an impressive margin.

BJP has fielded Divya Jaiswal from the seat.

BJP candidate B L Sharma ‘Prem’ on Saturday filed his nomination papers for the Northeast Delhi
seat.

Accompanied by his supporters and local leaders, the veteran leader filed his papers before the Returning Officer T C Nakh.

B L Sharma was among the first to file papers on the first day of the nomination for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls on May,7.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha from East Delhi parliamentary constituency in 1991 and 1996 when he trounced Congress stalwarts H K L Bhagat and Deep Chand Bandhu respectively.

Elections are to be held on May 7 for the seven Parliamentary constituency in the national capital.

In keeping with the BJP trend of hi-tech election campaign, party candidate from  Chandni   Chowk constituency in Delhi  Vijender Gupta launched his website.

The website has packaged Gupta with the tagline “Development has a new name – Vijender Gupta”. Information about Gupta, his political career, family and interests is now available at www.vijendragupta.in.

Gupta, who is the Chairman of the Standing Committee of BJP-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), is pitted against Union Science and Technology Minister and sitting MP Kapil Sibal of Congress.

BJP candidates from West Delhi, Jagdish Mukhi, and for the New Delhi, Vijay Goel, have already floated their own websites. How far this move has caught on with the public is, however, questionable. During the last Assembly elections, BJP veteran V K Malhotra’s website was floated amid a lot of fanfare.

The CBI has given a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 riot case against him.
Congress leader and former central minister Jagdish Tytler was on Thursday given a clean chit by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a case registered against him for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.

De-sealing its final report in the case in the court, the CBI pleaded that the case against Tytler be cancelled.

Opposition BJP said that the CBI clean chit to former Union minister Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case has “shaken the faith of the common man” and “exposed the hypocrisy of Congress”.

Jagdish Tytler had been one of the main accused in instigating anti-Sikh riots in 1984.
The CBI on Saturday submitted its final investigation report in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler.The report, which was submitted in a sealed cover before the court of metropolitan magistrate Ram Lal Meena at Karkardooma, will come up for hearing on April 2.

Suspecting a clean chit to former central minister Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has turned into a ‘Congress Bureau of Investigation’.

“The CBI has continued the Congress’s political agenda by giving a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler. We have not seen such a misuse of CBI till date,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
“If Mayawati is with them, then a clean chit to Mayawati. If Mulyaam Singh Yadav is with them, then a clean chit to him. And now a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler. The CBI is now Congress Bureau of Investigation. We reject the CBI’s clean chit. Now the people will decide,” Javadekar added.

Tytler is the Congress candidate from North-East Delhi for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

A day after the Election Commission filed a case against him for his vitriolic remarks against the Muslims, an unrepentant Varun Gandhi said he is the victim of a political conspiracy. He said he is well aware of his roots as a proud Gandhi, an Indian and a Hindu in equal measure.

Breaking his silence on his controversial speech targeting the Muslim community allegedly made during an election rally in Pilibhit on March 6, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi on Wednesday morning issued a clarification saying he was a Gandhian and the CD of his speech had been tampered with.

Varun also applied for an anticipatory bail. An FIR had been filed by the Pilibhit District Magistrate on Tuesday following a directive by the Election Commission.

After prolonged suspense over its nominees for the Capital’s seven Lok Sabha seats, The BJP leadership has reached an uneasy consensus on names for the seven parliamentary constituencies of the Capital, but with protests brewing, the party is keeping its cards close to its chest, and deferring a formal announcement.

The central election committee has “authorised” BJP president Rajnath Singh and senior leader L K Advani to decide on the candidatures in consultation with party general secretary Arun Jaitley.

According to sources, Vijay Goel has been shunted back to Chandni Chowk, while Janakpuri MLA Jagdish Mukhi has been asked to take over New Delhi, which Goel wanted.

Late Sahib Singh Verma’s son has been awarded the West Delhi seat – which the BJP is confident of winning. Two-time MLA Ramesh Biduri has also been rewarded with the South Delhi seat.

Northwest has been given to Meera Kanwaria. B L Sharma Prem could be given Northeast Delhi, while former president Dr Harshvardhan could be accommodated in East Delhi.

There might be a surprise element in East Delhi as former Amroha MP Chetan Chauhan has been contacted by Rajnath Singh. The former India opener has been active in Delhi cricket and the other contender is former Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan. Chauhan has won from Amroha twice and lives in East Delhi which has a sizeable vote from east UP and Poorvanchal.

Hema Malini will not contest the coming Lok Sabha elections but will campaign for the BJP, party President Rajnath Singh said on Saturday. “We wanted Hema Malini to contest the Lok Sabha elections and even asked her for her opinion on the issue. After deliberating, she told me that she would like to campaign for the BJP but was not keen on contesting,” Mr. Rajnath Singh .

Mrs. Malini is a BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha where her tenure expires in September, 2010. Mr. Rajnath Singh’s remarks came against the backdrop of reports that the BJP could field the “dream-girl” from New Delhi constituency.