Putting up a brave face after the Bihar debacle, the state unit of the BJP lambasted the ruling Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party for targeting the party leadership and its chief Amit Shah.
“It is surprising that the BSP received a meagre 2 per cent of the votes in Bihar while the SP fared even worse with one per cent votes. Yet, they have the gall of making tall claims of winning the 2017 UP polls. Parties whose candidates failed to save their deposits are now sermonising us,” BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said in lucknow on Tuesday.
“BSP chief Mayawati’s remark that had the BJP won more seats in Bihar the performance of her party would have improved proves that the people of Bihar have completely rejected the BSP and she was hoping for indirect help from the BJP,” he said. Besides, her recent announcement on not constructing any park or memorial if the BSP came to power indicates that Mayawati is trying to cover up her misdeeds when she siphoned off public money for building Dalit memorials, he said. “Mayawati is silent on the corruption charges her government faced at that time. Will people vote for a party whose ministers are still in jail and the former Chief Minister herself was quizzed in connection with the NRHM scam,” BJP spokesman said. Pathak said that the statement of the SP leaders that they would contest the coming 2017 Assembly polls allying with like-minded parties clearly pointed out that they were not confident about their development claims. “The party should clarify who are these like-minded parties because recently Mulayam Singh Yadav had walked out of the secular grand alliance comprising JD (U), RJD and Congress,” Pathak said. On the Bihar fiasco, the BJP spokesperson said that the party had accepted the mandate given by the people of Bihar with humility and would examine the reasons for the people’s rejection.
“The state unit of the BJP will certainly learn lessons from the Bihar debacle and launch the poll campaign in UP with all its might,” concluded Pathak.