NEW DELHI : In Uttar Pradesh, voices have started to rise within the BJP regarding the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections. Reports suggest that a faction is forming against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. At a time when everything is not well within the UP BJP, the internal strife could pose a threat to the party’s return to power before the assembly elections.
The report highlights concerns such as paper leaks, the hiring of contractual workers for government jobs, and the alleged high-handedness of the state administration, which have reportedly caused dissatisfaction and discontent among party workers.
Following the electoral victory of the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, which secured 43 out of the state’s 80 Lok Sabha seats compared to the NDA’s 36 (down from 64 in 2019), the state BJP has submitted a comprehensive 15-page analysis pinpointing campaign shortcomings. Sources indicate that feedback from nearly 40,000 people was collected to assess the party’s performance, with specific scrutiny on key constituencies like Ayodhya and Amethi.
According to the party’s own data, its weakest performances were in the west and Kashi (Varanasi) regions, where it won just eight of the 28 seats. In Braj (western UP), the party won eight out of 13 seats. In Gorakhpur, the stronghold of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the BJP managed only six of 13 seats, while in Awadh (region that includes Lucknow, Ayodhya, Faizabad), it won just seven of 16. In Kanpur-Bundelkhand, the BJP failed to reclaim its previous seats, securing only four out of 10.
It is reported that Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and state president Bhupendra Chaudhary have complained to JP Nadda about Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s working methods. Additionally, an internal BJP report has surfaced, citing various reasons for the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. A report of approximately 15 pages has been prepared, and about forty thousand people have expressed concerns regarding the BJP’s poor performance. The report highlights issues such as paper leaks, the appointment of employees on a contract basis for government jobs, and other significant reasons.
UP state BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary met the PM and Nadda and submitted a report, based on the feedback of 40,000 party workers, on the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls. The 15-page document said that there was an eight per cent decline in the BJP’s vote share across six regions in UP, and that some of the Other Backward Classes, such as Maurya and Kurmi castes, moved away from the BJP and supported the Opposition INDIA bloc candidates.
The report has stated that only a third of the Dalits voted for the BJP. It said that the decline in the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP’s) vote share benefited the INDIA bloc, which in UP comprised the Samajwadi Party and the Congress.Chaudhary said the overreach of the bureaucracy, especially the police, hurt the BJP’s poll prospects. The report said the party did not heed party workers and its leaders made ill-timed statements on issues such as amending the Constitution. Issues such as paper leaks, livelihood issues, and the lack of jobs also hurt the party.

The Opposition’s narrative on the threats to the constitution and neglect of party workers, Foreign conspiracy, shifting of votes, overconfidence, – these were some of the key points touched upon by the BJP ’s top leaders as they met in Lucknow on Sunday, July 14, to diagnose the factors behind the party’s poor performance in the recently-concluded general election in Uttar Pradesh.
More than a month after the party’s slump in the key northern state, which sends as many as 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, the BJP on Sunday convened its state-executive meeting in the capital Lucknow. Though the BJP leaders did not use this exact terminology, the essence of the meeting was that the 2024 defeat was more a failure of propaganda and messaging than about any deficiency in the performance of the governments run by the party at the Centre and in the state.
One, the hush-hush references to losing support base. Adityanath, in his address, said the election recorded a “shifting” of votes, but did not elaborate further, although we can derive that he meant marginalised Hindu communities, in particular, Dalits. He claimed that “over-confidence” hurt the BJP.
Two, the BJP believes that its prospects were dented by the Opposition’s campaign on the threats to the constitution and reservations.

There was an attempt to “spoil the atmosphere” through “rumours and confusion,” said Adityanath, acknowledging that the BJP lost the narrative battle against the Opposition on the topic of constitution and reservations, which was triggered by its own over-the-top claims of hitting the 400-seat mark. From the dais, the CM also needed to reaffirm that the BJP was the party that safeguards the rights of tribals, OBCs and Dalits and gives the “highest honour” to the constitution. Three, foreign conspiracy to divide the Hindu society through caste. Adityanath did not mince his words when he alleged that there was an attempt by “foreign forces” to divide the society on the basis of caste to undermine India’s strength. “The global forces know that if this society is scattered, it can be easily preyed upon but if it is united, even the biggest powers will collapse in front of it,” said Adityanath.

Reaching out to the Dalits. Adityanath underlined that BJP workers should have been more proactive on social media in countering the Opposition’s narrative on reservations and the constitution. Things could have been better had the party persuasively propagated its “achievements” regarding Dalit icons and thinkers, including the “Panchteerth” linked to B. R Ambedkar, and welfare schemes for the poor, Adityanath said.
It is largely understood that through the high-pitched narrative on reservations and the constitution, the Opposition managed to wean away a section of Dalit and OBC voters away from the BJP in this election. Adityanath reminded party workers on the ways they could target the Opposition on the issue of caste, by referring to the OBC identities of former MP Raju Pal, who was slain, and Umesh Pal, the witness in the case, who was also murdered.
The morale of the party workers. Attempts were made in the state executive body meeting to encourage and motivate the demoralised BJP workers. “There is no need for the BJP worker to be pushed on the backfoot under any circumstances,” Adityanath said, as he underlined the achievements of his government. This had clear communal undertones. The tongues got wagging after deputy CM Maurya declared that the party’s organisation was supreme to the government, in a subtle message to his competitor Adityanath that the party could not rely on power and bureaucracy to win elections.
“The organisation is bigger than the government, always has been and will remain so,” thundered Maurya to loud cheers in the auditorium in Lucknow. As an extension of this, he urged all public representatives of the BJP to give respect to party workers and resolve their issues on a priority basis.
Given that Maurya, who rose through the ranks of the BJP, is considered an organisation man, his statement was a message to both the party workers as well as Adityanath. The CM himself hinted upon the need for unity at all levels when he asked all elected representatives of the party, from the block pramukh level to parliament, to stand with the candidate “picked by the organisation” and resolve to ensure the win of the “lotus symbol.” A dent here, and the adverse impact could be seen at other levels of the governance structure, he argued.
The BJP leaders did not address the livelihood issues faced by the public or the role of paper leaks and contentious measures such as the Agnipath scheme in reviewing its performance. Nadda, who delved into the history, cadre and ideological strength of the party, in fact, even seemed to taunt Opposition leaders, in particular the Gandhi siblings – Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – for raising unemployment and inflation during the election. Nadda described them as “padhe likhe anpad” or “educated illiterates” for failing to see the growth and development achieved by the country under the leadership of Narendra Modi and its capacity to generate employment.
(Bureau Report with Media inputs).

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