After the veterans in the BJP voiced their criticism over the party’s debacle in Bihar, the senior leaders in Uttar Pradesh have also become vocal on the issue.
After the veterans in the BJP voiced their criticism over the party’s debacle in Bihar, the senior leaders in Uttar Pradesh have also become vocal on the issue.
UP BJP leaders are now openly critical of the party high command’s decision to fight the Bihar elections without projecting a chief ministerial candidate.
Former BJP MP and senior party leader Rajnath Singh ‘Surya’ said, “The BJP should not go to the UP Assembly polls without a face. Mr Modi’s face should not be used for every election in the country.”
He suggested that Union home minister Rajnath Singh should be projected as a chief ministerial candidate in UP.Mr Singh further said that the issues raised by Mr L.K. Advani, Dr M.M. Joshi, Mr Yashwant Sinha and Mr Shanta Kumar should not be ignored as these are the leaders who have built the party from the scratch.
Former UP BJP presidents Om Prakash Singh and Surya Pratap Shahi also urged the senior BJP leadership to introspect the causes of defeat in Bihar and Delhi.
“The reasons for the defeat are already in public domain and we should discuss them instead of brushing them under the carpet.”
Another veteran leader who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “Our leaders think they are leading a one-many army. The BJP is a cadre-based party and if the leaders ignore the cadres — like they did in Delhi and Bihar — the party will fall flat on its face. We are going to face five Assembly elections in 2016 and another five in 2017 and the party leadership should do some serious introspection before this.”
The UP BJP leaders feel that the party’s humiliating defeat in Delhi and Bihar will impact the elections in other states. “In Uttar Pradesh, we have been on a losing spree after the Lok Sabha elections. First, we lost nine of the 12 byelections to Assembly seats that we held and now we have faced defeat in the panchayat polls. The cadre here is demoralised,” admitted the leader. BJP leaders in UP are also against “imposing” a leader from outside in the state.
