Lok Sabha bypolls results major setback to BJP

Sachchidanand Jha

Patna : The BJP’s failure to retain its Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the March 11, 2018, bypolls the results of which were declared on March 14, 2018, is a huge setback to the party coming close on the heels of its failure to retain its two Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan in the bypolls.

The loss in two states in North India can’t be a coincidence. The party is talking of conquering new states and it has indeed done but what about losing in the BJP ruled states like Rajasthan and UP. The defeat in Gorakhpur will hurt the BJP more as UP CM Yogi Adityanath had won the seat five times since 1998. He had vacated the seat after becoming UP Chief Minister in 2017. Now, the SP has wrested the seat from the BJP. Earlier, the BJP had not done well in Gujarat though it retained the power.

CM Yogi Adityanath has rightly said that over confidence had cost the party Phulpur and Gorakhpur seats. The party’s over confidence is reflected from the fact that even after the poll, the UP Deputy CM had claimed that the BJP will win both the seats. In fact, the BJP’s campaign for the bypolls lacked intensity though Yogi Adityanath is one of the star campaigners of the party.

In Bihar too, the RJD retained its Araria Lok Sabha seat and Jehanabad Assembly seats in the bypolls. The BJP also retained its Bhabhua seat. So, no suprises in Bihar. But, the JD(U)’s defeat by a big margin in Jehahabad is definitely a cause of concern for the NDA.

The BJP appears to be functioning in a mix of corporate and bureaucratic style of late lacking deft political touch and going for reforms in quick succession. The development works do matter a lot to the people but reforms should not cause inconvenience to them.

The only point of solace for the BJP is that the Congress has performed miserably in UP bypolls. The BSP-SP combine is unlikely to give space to the Congress in UP.