Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath blamed overconfidence for failing to realise the importance of the pre-poll understanding between Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party after BJP’s stunning defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha Bypolls.
"When the candidates were declared, the SP, BSP and Congress were not together...they had not joined hands then. But suddenly in the middle of the election, the SP and the BSP forged an electoral understanding," he said.
Addressing the press from his residence, Adityanath said that the result was unexpected and the party would review the shortcomings. “We accept the verdict of the people. I congratulate the winning candidates,” he said.
But he also used the opportunity to take a potshot at the SP-BSP alliance and called it a selfish deal that would only create hurdles for the nation’s development. Refusing to accept the result as mandate against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, Adityanath asserted that the bypolls were contested on local issues.
"When the general elections are held, there will be national issues. Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, there has been a sense of confidence which is prevailing in the country...but all these will be reviewed."
The loss in the by-election is a major embarrassment for Adityanath as the Gorakhpur seat was considered to be a BJP stronghold. He had been a five-time parliamentarian from the constituency, and before him, the town had sent his mentor Yogi Advaitnath to the Lok Sabha three times.
On Wednesday, however, it was a wake-up call for the Uttar Pradesh CM as well as the BJP as its two candidates were handed big defeats. In Gorakhpur, Praveen Nishad of SP defeated BJP’s Upendra Dutt Shukla by over 29,000 votes while in Phulpur, SP’s Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel defeated BJP’s Kaushlendra Singh Patel by 59,460 votes.
The bypolls were necessitated after UP CM Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats respectively following their election to the state legislative council.
Comments
0 comment