Rumblings in UP BJP over reasons for Lok Sabha poll debacle

Leaders gather in Delhi to review the reasons for the shocking setback. Heads may roll in the state organisation.

Rumblings have started among the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Uttar Pradesh even as the party leadership called a high-level two-day meeting in Delhi that started on Thursday to review the party’s drubbing in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

**EDS: IMAGE VIA @GorakhnathMndr** Gorakhpur: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at the Gorakhnath Temple in Gorakhpur, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (PTI Photo) (PTI06_02_2024_000034B)(PTI)

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, state BJP secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh, state unit president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak as well as other senior leaders are in Delhi to attend the review meeting.

After the formation of the government at the Centre, the party’s central leadership will hold a detailed meeting to review the election results and reasons for defeat, said a BJP leader. Several heads are likely to roll in the BJP state organisation as the party’s central leadership has decided to crack whip over the shocking defeat in the Lok Sabha election.

“Some of the district unit presidents and regional in charge whose activity was doubtful during the campaign will be removed,” said a BJP leader. Shocked at the humiliating defeat in the party strongholds, the BJP candidates who contested the election as well as the leaders who campaigned for the party are now coming out in the open to speak over the possible reasons for the drubbing.

While some candidates alleged betrayal by the party leaders who allegedly joined hands with the rival party candidates and worked to ensure defeat of the BJP candidates. Others alleged that instead of working for the victory, some leaders sabotaged the party campaign.

The state unit leaders will submit their report over the defeat and deliberate over the reasons for the seatback in the Lok Sabha election with BJP national president JP Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah, said a BJP leader, adding that purge in the party’s state unit organisation could not be ruled out.

BJP leader Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, a two-term MP from Fatehpur Lok Sabha seat who lost to SP candidate Naresh Uttam Patel, said she will submit a report to the central leadership on how some party leaders sabotaged her campaign. They used all the tricks to create confusion among the party supporters before polling leading to the victory of the rival candidates, she alleged.

BJP candidate from Saharanpur Raghav Lakhanpal, who lost to Congress candidate Imran Masood, said the party campaign strategy backfired as it led to the shift of the OBC and Dalit voters to the INDIA bloc candidate. “There is a need to review why the traditional supporters of the BJP ditched it,” he said.

BJP ally and the NISHAD party chief Sanjay Nishad said, “The slogan 400 plus seat by the BJP created unease among the OBC and Dalit voters as the narrative played by the SP and Congress that BJP was aiming for 400 seats to amend the Constitution caught their imagination.”

“Majority of the voters dumped the BJP and supported the INDIA bloc as the BJP leaders failed to counter the opposition’s narrative,” he said. Two-term BJP MP from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj, who also secured victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, said the central leadership should identify the party leaders who worked against the BJP candidates.

“Strict action should be taken against those who damaged the party in the crucial election. Several BJP candidates who lost the election have raised the issue of internal sabotage,” he said. Uttar Pradesh finance minister Suresh Khanna, who was the campaign in charge of Shahjahanpur Lok Sabha seat, said overconfidence of party leaders and workers led to the defeat. “We will review the performance of the party candidates and take action accordingly,” he said.

The party leadership should have countered the disinformation campaign launched by the opposition strongly, said former BJP state unit president Laxmikant Bajpai. Save Constitution and reservation campaign launched by the opposition created confusion among the BJP OBC and Dalit voters. The party in-charges should have prepared a strategy to take on the INDIA bloc offensive, he said.

Uttar Pradesh horticulture minister Dinesh Pratap Singh, who lost to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli, said the party leaders and office- bearers of the organisation should have taken measures to counter the confusion created by the INDIA bloc among the voters.

A senior BJP leader said the party leadership should review the working from the state unit to the booth level and action should be taken against those who worked against the interest of the party. “Several candidates have spoken about the betrayal by the district units office-bearers during the election campaign,” he said. The BJP tally in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in UP declined to 33 from 62 in the 2019 election. The party vote share also shrank from 49.98% in 2019 to 41.37% in the 2024.