UP shaping up as next battleground for saffron party

After its disastrous performance in the Bihar Assembly elections, questions are being raised within the saffron party whether or not it will meet the same fate in Uttar Pradesh as well. In UP, again the caste arithmetic does not favour the BJP, with OBC, dalit and Muslims in significant numbers. In Bihar, the BJP failed to manage the social and caste arithmetic, which played a dominant role.

Though the party will have to face electoral battles in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Punjab before it finally takes on political opponents in Uttar Pradesh, its leadership has been facing repeated demands from the cadre to “overhaul” its organisation in UP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chosen Varanasi over Vadodara in his home state Gujarat while Amit Shah, who was the party’s UP incharge for the general elections, had succeeded Rajnath Singh as the BJP national president.

Mr Modi had contested from Varanasi (UP) and Vadodara (Gujarat) parliamentary constituencies but after winning both gave up Vadodara.

Its dismal performance in Bihar has only added to its woes in UP where a resurgent BSP led by Ms Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party’s work at the grassroot level in Uttar Pradesh, is keeping the party leaders on the edge. After losing crucial assembly seats in by-polls and its average performance in the recently held assembly elections in UP, questions are being raised within the party over the way its state unit is functioning.

After winning 71 out of 80 parliamentary seats last year, the BJP, sources disclosed, have failed to remained connected with the masses and both SP and BSP have gained, even in constituencies where the BJP leaders had won by a significant margin. Factionalism is also an issue that the Central leadership is desperately trying to check.