NEW DELHI, 14 June 2004 — Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi may not have had to pay for the agony he caused in the state to thousands of Muslims when the state was engulfed by communal violence. But he may be shown the door because the riots have spelt the loss of power at the center for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Just a day after former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee accepted for the first time that the Gujarat carnage was a reason behind his party’s defeat in the recent Lok Sabha elections, he hinted that now Modi might have to go.

During an interview with a television channel, Vajpayee accepted that not removing Modi after riots was a big mistake.

“The impact of the Gujarat riots was felt nationwide. This was unexpected and hurt us badly.. Narendra Modi should have been removed after the incident. But what has happened has happened. Facts cannot be changed,” Vajpayee said in Manali where he is holidaying for a week.

A decision on whether Narendra Modi should be removed will be taken at the party’s national executive meeting in Bombay later this month, Vajpayee said.

Still stunned by the BJP-led coalition’s defeat, Vajpayee said, “It was most unexpected.” “The elections were fought under my leadership and I have to accept responsibility for the defeat,” he said.

During discussions at the party’s national executive meeting, the entire situation would have to be looked at in new light, Vajpayee said. Among other issues, the debacle would be discussed at length and issues like the change of leadership may also come up.

On whether the decision to hold early elections was a mistake, the former prime minister said there were two points of view but the majority wanted the dates to be advanced.

“I decided on calling early polls as the decision was left to me. When one is asked to take a final decision, everybody’s viewpoint should be accommodated,” he said. Not willing to elaborate on the timing of the elections, Vajpayee said that with NDA’s defeat, one chapter of politics had closed and a fresh one had opened.

Regarding personal attacks on Sonia Gandhi, Vajpayee admitted, “The Indian electorate is mature. It may enjoy mudslinging for a while, but at heart it is against politics of personal vendetta.”

Specifying that the mandate was not common throughout the nation, Vajpayee said, “The mandate is fractured. Different issues in different regions have played a major role. The verdicts in Punjab and Haryana are completely different while the two are neighboring states.”

Continuing his anti-Congress campaign, Vajpayee expressed confidence that the Manmohan Singh government would not be able to complete its full term in office. He said there were far too many internal contradictions in the UPA.

He also felt the coalition did not have the national interest at heart, but was led by individual party interests.

On what would be his party’s strategy in case the UPA government falls, Vajpayee replied that he hadn’t thought about it yet, but all options would be kept open.

Clarifying that he had not talked about any coalition with the Samajwadi Party, Vajpayee said that it was quoted out of context by the media because of which the SP had to suffer.

On the prospects of ties with SP in future, Vajpayee said that while all options could be looked at, the two had some basic differences on issues like Ayodhya and Kashmir.

Regarding Ayodhya, dismissing the RSS criticism about the BJP having backtracked from it, Vajpayee said, “This is not true. We have not abandoned the temple issue.”

Dismissing prospects of his heading for political retirement, Vajpayee said a lot was still needed to be done. Too much should not be read into L.K. Advani being made the leader of the opposition, he said.

He himself had earlier played the same role. Now, he would be supporting Advani instead, he said.

On whether he would prefer to lead a peaceful life away from politics, Vajpayee’s response signaled that he feels more at “peace” where there is more political heat. He joked and said, “There has been no peace in Manali over the last two days. There is more peace in Delhi.”