The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had won 71 seats in 2014 and 62 in 2019 from Uttar Pradesh, had to settle for only 33 seats this time. Had the BJP not lost its 29 Lok Sabha seats in UP, it would not have needed the support of allies to secure a majority in 2024. In this way, BJP has received the biggest blow in the Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh. Due to which meetings are being held one after the other and political churning is going on continuously from Lucknow to Delhi. Meanwhile, BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary has submitted the internal report to the top leadership, which has created a stir and will now be discussed with CM Yogi Adityanath.
After the results of the Lok Sabha elections, leaders of the BJP and allied parties are raising questions on the performance of the UP government. BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary met PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi and submitted a report on the current tussle between the government and the organization in UP and the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. BJP’s electoral performance was already not good and now by-elections are going to be held soon in 10 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh. In such a situation, the tension of the BJP leaders regarding UP has increased. In such a situation, the result of the by-election will give relief to the BJP or else surgery will have to be done from the government to the organization.
Various reasons for poor performance
Recently, in the BJP’s state working committee, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya described the organization as bigger than the government, while CM Yogi attributed the defeat to overconfidence. Both the CM and Deputy CM gave different reasons for the poor performance in UP, but Keshav Prasad Maurya’s statement was seen as a comment against the Yogi government. After this, political chaos has started in BJP.
From BJP MLAs to leaders of allied parties, they have started raising questions openly. Thus his target is UP officials and administration too, but his target is the Yogi government. Thus, the latent tension between the government and the organization has now come to the surface.
An opportunity for opposition parties to target BJP
The talk of political rift between CM Yogi and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya has given the opposition an opportunity to target the BJP. SP and Congress are trying to take this opportunity in their favor. Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said that now the same formula is being adopted again as BJP did with Kalyan Singh in UP. This time it has to be seen who becomes Kalyan Singh. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav also said without naming Keshav Prasad Maurya that Monsoon offered to bring 100 MLAs and form the government. Not only that, a day ago he had said that the fight in BJP is taking place over the CM’s chair.
Amid the blame game after the defeat in UP, State President Bhupendra Chaudhary met with PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda and discussed the 15-page report prepared on the basis of 40 thousand workers. Amid the debate, the BJP central leadership ordered state leaders to stop making public statements and focus on the upcoming by-elections for 10 assembly seats. While the Chief Minister has held a meeting with his ministers to understand the political mood regarding the by-elections to be held on these 10 seats, on the other hand, Bhupendra Chaudhary has presented an internal report of the BJP, in which the U.P. The reason for the defeat of the government is clearly indicated.
Another reshuffle in the cabinet
After the organization’s statements against the government, a section is propagating that something big is about to happen in UP with Keshav and state president Bhupendra Chaudhary’s meeting with JP Nadda. After the kind of results that have happened in UP, political surgery has to be done from the organization to the government. The BJP handed over the reins of the party to Bhupendra Chaudhary ahead of the assembly elections in 2022, with only a few months remaining in his tenure. In this way, along with getting the new national president of BJP, the new state president will also be crowned.
Due to the way two ministers of the Yogi government have won the Lok Sabha elections and become MLAs, a reshuffle in the UP cabinet is also considered certain. In the second term of the Yogi government, the cabinet was expanded earlier this year after the RLD and Rajbhar’s party joined the NDA. Another reshuffle may be seen soon after the cabinet expansion. This reshuffle could give a chance to the backward faces of the party and also give more representation to the areas where the BJP lost.
BJP’s focus is on helping OBCs
However, everything will depend on the bypoll results in UP, if BJP manages to win more seats than SP in 10 assembly seats, CM Yogi’s stature will increase. As in the Lok Sabha elections, if the results are not favourable, their opponents will raise their voices and raise their voices. The way the Dalit and OBC votes have been fragmented in UP has increased the pressure on the BJP to give importance to these two communities.
The way the BJP fielded Bahoran Lal Maurya, who hails from the Maurya community, on the MLC seat vacated by the resignation of Swami Prasad Maurya, shows how serious the BJP is about OBCs. In such a situation, if CM Yogi is not successful in giving victory to BJP in the by-election, then the pressure will increase on him.
Swords were drawn between the government and the organization
Political analysts say that no one is ready to take responsibility for BJP’s defeat in UP. Swords have been drawn between the government and the organization. Keshav Prasad Maurya wanted to say that the Yogi government in UP has become bigger than the party. On the other hand, CM Yogi’s statement is being taken to mean that the central leadership was also overconfident. This way it is clear how the fight is going.
Due to the way BJP leaders and MLAs are making statements, the party has started to feel the need to take strict action. The situation is similar to before 2014, when there were several factions within the BJP in UP. Hence, the party’s top leadership wants to remain silent for now because of the political mood, but after the by-elections, it will try to give a big political message by surgery in the organization and the government.
