Amid allegations of sabotage, UP debacle sends shocked BJP back to drawing board

The debacle in UP which shocked the BJP and contributed to its loss of majority in Lok Sabha has sent the party and its leaders, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, back to the drawing board. The roles of party’s state and central leaders will also be under the scanner as the party undertakes an exercise to review the results.

Murmurs have been growing within the BJP ranks ever since the party managed just 33 seats in the state out of 80, down from 62 last time and finishing behind the SP’s 37.

Adityanath is learnt to have got the go-ahead from the leadership to begin the review during his two-day trip to New Delhi. He reached the Capital Thursday evening and had a meeting with senior leaders including party president J P Nadda.

After attending the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting Friday, Adityanath was said to have had another two-hour, closed-door meeting with the party leadership, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh were present, along with Nadda.

Among those whose roles will be under the scanner, and who are expected to submit detailed reports, are top ministers in the UP government and their colleagues who, along with the CM and Deputy CMs, were given the charge of separate districts last year to spread the message of the Modi government’s work.

Some of them were also tasked with managing caste equations in constituencies among Brahmins, Thakurs, Bhumihars, Baniyas and OBCs, in east, west and central UP regions.

Several BJP leaders have already begun talking openly about “internal sabotage”, apart from the failure to effectively counter the Opposition’s campaign around the “threat to the Constitution”, as well as “low turnout among Hindus”.

BJP’s Rampur candidate Ghanshyam