A recent meeting at the BJP office in Lucknow presented a rather amusing spectacle as party workers welcomed senior state-level leaders with garlands.
A recent meeting at the BJP office here presented a rather amusing spectacle as party workers welcomed senior state-level leaders with garlands. Nothing wrong with that, except that the meeting was called to review the reasons for the party’s virtual rout in the UP assembly elections, and that most of the leaders being welcomed, including state BJP president Surya Pratap Shahi, had lost elections.
A similarly ironical situation prevails in the state Congress headquarters, too. UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi and her supporters could not celebrate her own victory as the gloom following the party’s debacle in the state was overpowering.
While the Congress could win only 28 seats, marginally up from its tally of 22 in 2007, the BJP’s electoral graph actually went down from 51 to 47, making a joke out of party chief Nitin Gadkari’s bluster about a “massive under-current” in favour of the party.
But, despite losing badly in the state elections, both the national parties seem to be nonplussed as far as taking tough decisions for a much-needed organisational overhaul is concerned. State presidents of both the parties have submitted their resignations but their party bosses are yet to take a decision on whether to accept or reject them. Several office-bearers and district unit chiefs are also known to have openly campaigned against official party nominees. Political watchers say the overhaul could have been stalled due to the civic elections in UP which are round the corner.
The BJP’s review of the elections has only thrown up a corollary which has already been known — that the faction-fighting in the party proved to be the saffron brigade’s nemesis.
The Congress seems to have decided to avoid facing reality altogether. The party is yet to organise any meeting to review its debacle. A meeting organised in Delhi on Friday was called off at the last moment. The official reason given was related to ‘navratras’ but insiders say top party leaders responsible for the rout do not want to face a difficult situation.
While Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has already said that a poor organisation in UP was responsible for the party’s poor showing, party MP PL Punia says the “irresponsible” utterances of several senior leaders only worsened the party’s plight during the elections.
Party insiders say the party high command is realising that the biggest mistake was committed in the distribution of tickets. A group of party leaders formed a caucus and virtually hijacked the screening committee which finalised the candidates’ list. These leaders continue to retain their posts as the party leadership has failed to crack the whip. Insiders say the party would meet the same electoral fate in the LS election if it shies away from taking quick corrective action.
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