BJP blames paper leak, admn overreach, Agnipath for poor Lok Sabha show in UP

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 18

In its report on the party’s poor show in the 18th General Election, the Uttar Pradesh BJP unit has identified a host of reasons — Agnipath scheme, rampant paper leaks, administrative overreach and disenchantment among sections of OBCs being some of them.

Loss of Maurya votes finds mention

• A specific mention involves the loss of votes of Mauryas, the OBC segment state Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya represents
• Maurya is at loggerheads with CM Yogi over reasons why the party lost in the state. The report also says that the depletion of BSP chief Mayawati’s base in the state had helped the Congress

The reasons are contained in a 15-page report which the BJP UP unit has submitted to the central leadership for review and action on the eve of Assembly bypolls in 10 seats.

The report also flags vote reduction of the BJP across six regions of the state and calls for urgent corrective measures. This even as CM Yogi Adityanath recently defended his governance and said the number of votes garnered by the BJP were the same as in 2014 and later and “overconfidence and shift in votes had hurt party prospects”.

The report says narratives chosen by Opposition Samajwadi Party and Congress resonated with the people, including their pitch on the Constitution, which put saffron ranks on the back foot. The report, sources say, dwelt in detail on the party’s loss in the Faizabad LS seat, which houses Ayodhya, and Amethi, the seat in which Congress’ Kishori Lal Sharma defeated BJP’s Smriti Irani.

BJP workers’ disenchantment is also listed among the reasons for the party’s below-par show of the BJP in UP, where the party could win just 33 of 80 seats, as against 62 in 2019. The report said bureaucracy was in control in the state and workers were at the receiving end, with their interests often compromised. A specific mention in the report involves loss of votes of Mauryas, the OBC segment state Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya represents.

Maurya is at loggerheads with CM Yogi over reasons why the party lost in the state. The report also says that the depletion of BSP chief Mayawati’s base in the state had helped the Congress.

A series of meetings of UP leaders, including that of state unit chief Bhupendra Choudhary with PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda, have sparked speculation on a possible rejig of the state organisation. Meanwhile, in another dig at the tussle between Maurya and Yogi, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said: “Monsoon offer: 100 laao, sarkar banao (bring 100 MLAs and form the government).” The remark was for Maurya, who is known to harbour CMship ambitions.