Lucknow: Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan, and a lonely one at that. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath knows this best as voices of dissent get shriller in the ruling BJP after the debacle in Lok Sabha byelections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur.
The monk-turned-politician, who was hailed as an “icon” and a “mass leader” when he took oath as Chief Minister exactly an year ago, is now being openly targeted by rebel party leaders.
Senior BJP leader and former MP Ramakant Yadav criticised the chief minister and said, Ek puja path karne wale ko mukhya mantri bana diya gaya… unke bas ka nahin hai sarkar chalana (A priest has been made the chief minister, he is not competent to run the government).
He alleged that the party had alienated OBCs and dalits and this led to its defeat in the byelections.
BJP MP from Kaiserganj, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, said that some BJP workers virtually celebrated the party’s defeat in the byelections as they saw it as a lesson for seniors who allegedly ignored workers at the grassroots.
“The time has come for party leaders do so some serious introspection. They should find out why the workers are happy over the party’s defeat,” he said. BJP’s Allahabad MP Shyama Charan Gupta said that the overconfidence of party leaders was responsible for the electoral loss.
