News Brief
Kuldeep Negi
Jun 08, 2024, 11:27 AM | Updated 11:27 AM IST
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in introspection mode after its unexpected setback in Uttar Pradesh, where it lost a significant number of seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections, leading to a loss of majority in the state.
The results have prompted the party to initiate a review of its leadership roles, particularly focusing on the performance of both state and central leaders.
The murmurs of discontent within the party started ever since the BJP managed to secure only 33 seats out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, a sharp decline from the 62 seats it held previously, placing it behind the Samajwadi Party (SP), which bagged 37 seats.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath, who was on a two-day visit to New Delhi, reportedly received approval from the party's top leadership to begin the review process.
During his visit, he held meetings with senior leaders, including party president J P Nadda, and participated in the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting.
After the NDA meeting on Friday, the UP Chief Minister reportedly also participated in a closed-door meeting with party leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, along with Nadda.
The review process is expected to scrutinise the roles of key ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government, who were tasked with managing different districts to propagate the achievements of the Modi government and manage caste equations in various regions.
Several leaders have already begun attributing the defeat to "internal sabotage" and the party's failure to counter the opposition's narrative effectively.
In several constituencies, BJP candidates have pointed to factors such as religious polarisation, failure to mobilise core voters, and alleged acts of sabotage by party workers.
In some cases, candidates accused local party leaders of actively working against them, leading to their defeat.
Kuldeep is Senior Editor (Newsroom) at Swarajya. He tweets at @kaydnegi.