BJP flags overconfidence, Scheduled Caste vote shift as reasons for its dismal show in UP

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 15

Overconfidence, shift in Scheduled Caste votes on the back of Opposition’s “Constitution will be changed” campaign and disconnect between workers and the government were flagged as major causes behind the BJP’s below par show in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The first review of the party’s LS performance in UP, in which it managed to win only 33 of 80 seats — down from 62 in 2019 — happened in Lucknow during the party’s state executive meeting on Sunday, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saying that overconfidence and a shift in votes had undermined the expectations of the saffron party.

BJP UP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary is learnt to have blamed the underwhelming performance of the party on Opposition SP and Congress’ campaign that the NDA wanted to change the Constitution and scrap SC and ST quotas. The Opposition had said that NDA wanted 400 plus seats to change the Constitution.

Addressing leaders, BJP chief JP Nadda borrowed from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to term the Congress as a “parasitic party” that grew on the strength of others.

“In 13 states, the Congress has no MP. It is a parasitic party which depends on others for victories,” said Nadda, asking cadres to stay focused and confident while they introspected the performance in LS poll.

Besides the need to stay focused on the delivery of government schemes, the meeting discussed strategies for the upcoming Assembly bypolls in the state.

These elections have been necessitated after nine sitting MLAs won Lok Sabha elections and one seat fell vacant following the conviction of a sitting lawmaker.

Nine sitting UP MLAs who contested and won the recently held Lok Sabha polls include BJP’s Anoop Pradhan Balmiki (MoS Revenue) from Hathras SC seat. Balmiki is the sitting MLA from Khair in Aligarh. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav won from Kannauj LS segment and will be vacating Karhal Assembly seat.

Three other SP MLAs who won are Kundarki MLA Ziaur Rehman from Sambhal LS segment; Lalji Verma, Katehari MLA from Ambedkar Nagar LS seat and Milkipur MLA Avadhesh Pratap Singh, who won the Faizabad LS seat that houses Ayodhya.

BJP MLA from Phulpur Assembly seat, Praveen Patel, won Phulpur LS seat; BJP MLA from Ghaziabad assembly, Atul Garg, bagged Ghaziabad LS seat.

Nishad Party MLA Vinod Kumar Bind, an MLA from Majhawan, was declared victorious from Bhadohi LS constituency and RLD MLA from Meerapur in Muzaffarnagar won the Bijnor LS seat.

The Sishamau Assembly seat will see a bypoll as sitting SP MLA Irfan Solanki has been sentenced to seven years in jail in an arson case and will lose house membership.

Cong a parasitic party

In 13 states, the Congress has no MP. It is a parasitic party which depends on others for victories. — JP Nadda, BJP chief