Top BJP leaders are busy in a brainstorming session for the last 48 years in Lucknow to find out reasons for the poor performance of the party in the Lok Sabha elections. Candidates from different regions are attending meetings with party office-bearers. On Thursday, Awadh region leaders attended the meeting, while on Friday, Kanpur-Bundelkhand region candidates gave their assessments to the party leaders. BJP could win only four out of the ten seats in Kanpur-Bundelkhand region, while in Awadh region, it could win only seven out of 16 seats. UP state chief Bhupendra Chowdhary and other leaders first met those who were in charge of the organisation in their respective seats, and then spoke separately to each of the defeated candidates. R K Singh Patel, the candidate who lost from Banda, told the leaders that the voters reposed trust in a false narrative created by the opposition that the Constitution would be dismantled and reservation would come to an end. He said, even some local BJP leaders openly campaigned for ending reservation, thus stabbing their own candidates in the back. Kaushal Kishore, the Union minister of staet, who lost from Mohanlalganj, said the opposition’s Constitution and reservative narrative remained stuck in the minds of voters, and the BJP leadership failed to explain its stand. He also alleged that some party insiders carried out sabotage. BJP has set up a task force of 80 leaders, with each two-member team preparing report for each of the LS seats that was lost. UP BJP leaders are preparing three type of report: The first report is based on feedback from candidates, second will be the feedback report of the task force team, and the third will be a report based on Mandal level. All these three reports will be combined to prepare a final report which will be sent to the Central leadership. The party has vowed to take action against saboteurs. BJP ally Om Prakash Rajbhar has alleged that local units of BJP did not work to help his party’s candidates, and in some cases, party workers worked to defeat the NDA candidates. Later Rajbhar withdrew his statement saying it was a fake news, and that, he continues to be with NDA and he has full trust in Modi and Yogi. Political pundits have analysed the reasons why BJP lost its seats in UP. Most of them are of the opinion that caste equation was not kept in mind while giving away tickets. Akhilesh Yadav fielded five of his family members in the election, but gave only four tickets to Muslims. Rest of the candidates were given tickets based on caste equations. His strategy worked. The analysis made by defeated BJP candidates is worth examining. Overall, three points have emerged: One, it was the BJP that defeated BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Most of the BJP leaders thought that Modi’s slogan of ‘Ab Ki Baar, 400 Paar’, will cause a wave, and losing one or two seats was irrelevant. These leaders were trying to settle scores with their own party leaders. The result was: BJP’s LS seats from UP declined to 33. Two, one reason for the loss was hyping up the ‘400 Paar’ slogan, and both Rahul and Akhilesh created the narrative that reservation would be abolished, if BJP wins more than 400 seats. BJP failed to counter this fake narrative. Three: Yogi Adityanath had recommended changing of tickets of at least 35 candidates, but his advice was not accepted. BJP gave tickets to 35 candidates who had fought the election thrice or even more. Twenty of them lost the election this time. The biggest setback for BJP in UP was losing the Faizabad (Ayodhya) seat. During internal discussions, party leaders raised the question of how it lost in Ayodhya, where a grand Ram temple was built. The analysis of this is not a secret. Almost all party leaders were against fielding Lallu Singh (who lost) as a candidate in Ayodhya. Caste equations were against the BJP candidate, and moreover, the false narrative about ending reservation. That is how Ayodhya was lost. One can say from the overall analysis that, Ayodhya was a shining example of how not to fight an election. BJP will now face its biggest challenge three years from now in the UP assembly election. The morale of Akhilesh Yadav and his party leaders is now high. It depends on Yogi Adityanath, how to counter the opposition.
MAHARASHTRA
BJP leaders are also unhappy about the Maharashtra LS results. The state party executive met in Mumbai on Friday, which was attended by deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, state chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Union minister Piyush Goyal, Raksha Khadse, Vinod Tawre, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Raosaheb Danve, Ashok Chavan and Narayan Rane. Bawankule later said that BJP got the biggest vote share in the state, and in some constituencies the margin was very slim. But the fact remains that the BJP-led Mahayuti won less seats this time. Bawankule said, the party lost because of lies spread by Congress-led Mahavikash Aghadi about changing the Constituion, and snatching away the rights of trivals. This resulted in loss to our party, he said. Now we want to forget the LS elections, and concentrate on state assembly elections to be held later this year, Bawankule said. Mungantiwar, who lost in Chandrapur of Vidarbha region to Congress candidate Pratibha Dhanorkar, said, Congress workers spread lies and the voters forgot the work did by Modi government. This time, BJP lost seats like Jalna, Beed, Bhiwandi. Raosaheb Danve, the former union minister, who contested from Jalna in Marathwada region, lost. BJP leader Kapil Patil, who lost in Bhiwandi, said, Muslim voters trusted the lies peddled out by Mahavikas Aghadi. Only four months are left for assembly elections in Maharashtra, and BJP has to decide whether to contest alone or in alliance with Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP. The question of distribution of seats among Mahayuti partners will arise. BJP has already begun survey of 106 assembly seats, where it won last time. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has already raised question about the slogan “400 Paar”. his party did not join the Union Council of Ministers. Such straws in the wind clearly show that the next two-three months in Maharashtra politics is going to be action-packed. One can see new electoral equations emerging.
HARYANA
BJP has already started analysing its LS results from Haryana, where it won only five out a total of 10 seats. Haryana will have assembly elections later this year. Among the five seats that Congress won are Ambala and Sirsa, reserved for scheduled castes. Sirsa seat was won in 2014 and 2019 by BJP’s Sunita Duggal, an ex-IRS officer. This time, she was denied a ticket. BJP fielded Ashok Tanwar in her place. Tanwar, who left Congress and joined BJP, lost to Kumari Selja of Congress. In Rohtak, at a review meeting, state minister Vishambhar Valmiki said, there was error in candidate selection. BJP’s vote percentage in 10 seats of Haryan fell by 10 per cent this time. This is not a good sign for the party. Only four to five months are left for the assembly election. Manohar Lal Khattar, who was the chief minister for 9 years, has now joined the Union cabinet. The new CM Nayab Singh Saini has been in power for only four months. BJP’s alliance with JJP is already over. Jat voters on Haryana appear to be bending towards the Congress. It will be a big challenge for BJP to fight on all fronts.
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