Union Minister Nitin Gadkari defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah on Wednesday by saying that it would be “unjust” to direct the blame for the Bihar elections on them.

Amidst a wave of opinions attributing the party’s loss to the main leadership, Gadkari spoke to reporters in Nagpur and said, “Our party is a party or workers, not of a family. A win or loss is everyone's responsibility”. Additionally, he also ruled out any possibility of Shah vacating his post following the loss.

He was also quick to ask for stringent action against individuals makingirresponsible statements against the PM and the party chief, which, he said, could cause damage to the party’s image. His statement came in response to many party veterans attacking senior leadership following the election loss.

Gadkari also added, “BJP lost elections under party veteran LK Advani too.” Advani is one of the leaders to issue a statement demanding a full-fledged review of the reasons behind BJP’s failure to win the state, especially when they were expected to. Regarding this the Minister said, “We will talk to Advaniji on the issue.”

As far as the loss in Bihar is concerned, the leader attributed the coalition of the opposition as the primary reason. He also spoke of the need to increase BJP’s vote-share by 5-7 percent.