Lack of coordination, enthusiasm behind BJP’s defeat in UP: report

Lucknow: The absence of coordination between Lok Sabha candidates and party MLAs has emerged as one of the main reasons of the BJP’s underwhelming performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The feedback collected so far by the designated teams which have been sent to almost all the constituencies, confirms this. The spat between Saharanpur Lok Sabha candidate Raghav Lakhanpal and Deoband MLA and UP’s junior Minister Brijesh Singh during a meeting in the presence of the fact-finding team proved that all is not well between the MLAs and the MPs.

BJP General Secretary G.N. Shukla along with an MLA from Hardoi had been sent as observers to take the feedback about the reasons for Lakhanpal’s loss in Saharanpur. Even as Shukla and others were waiting for everyone to settle down, supporters of Lakhanpal and Brijesh Singh started shouting slogans against each other. Lakhanpal’s supporters alleged that Singh was behind his loss in the poll.

However, the senior party leaders present in the meeting pacified both groups following which the meeting began. Despite his loss, Lakhanpal had taken the lead from the Deoband Assembly constituency represented by Brijesh Singh. Another feedback, according to sources, says there was no enthusiasm among the party workers across the state because of various reasons.

Common among them was the State BJP leadership’s inability to communicate with the party workers as it had been the case in the previous elections. Secondly, the workers for the past several years are feeling left out as despite doing their best in elections after elections, they are not able to get even their genuine work done at the tehsil and the thana level. They have also complained about an overdose of campaign and party programmes.

Another common trend reported was a ‘misplaced confidence’ among candidates, state leaderships and office-bearers that despite not doing much work, they would sail through as the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were not about electing MPs but giving a third term to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This complacency led to party candidates not listening to workers’ feedback and even not fulfilling the basic requirements of party workers and functionaries. In all, more than 70 office-bearers and former office-bearers have been entrusted with the responsibility of ascertaining the reasons for the BJP’s lukewarm performance in the state.

The observers have been tasked to meet district-level office-bearers, MLAs, sector-level office-bearers and collect their feedback. Even though the last date to submit the reports was June 20, sources said the date will have to be extended as many observers have not been able to complete the process and prepare a report so far.

IANS with edits