In the Doldrums after its worst-ever electoral performance since the 1991 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has decided to go in for a constituency-wise review of the reasons leading to their debacle.‘‘We have been defeated but are not discouraged. It’s time to go in for a detailed review of the reasons not only leading to defeat, but also to victory,’’ said Kalyan Singh, chairperson of the BJP’s election campaign committee in the state. Kalyan who had earlier claimed that the party would win a minimum of 58 seats in UP, said there would be no blame game in the ‘‘honest review’’.Though refusing to elaborate on the reasons that led to the party’s performance in UP, the former CM claimed that there was a near total vote transfer of the merged Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP) to the BJP and singled out the Bulandshahr, Bareilly and Pilibhit seats as proof of his claims. While the state BJP chief Vinay Katiyar who lost from Lakhimpur, avoided the media, Kalyan tried to put up a bold face. ‘‘The BJP will have to go in for a lot of introspection after such a performance in the state,’’ he said. Joining in the party’s strategy to corner Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on her foreign origins, Kalyan said though the BJP had nothing to do with the agitation of Govindacharya against Sonia as PM, he was personally in favour of Govindacharya’s decision.‘‘Bharat mein utni khushi nahin hueen, jitne Italy mein Sonia ke pradhanmantri hone ki hui (There was a lot more happiness in Italy, over Sonia being tipped to become PM, than in India),’’ he claimed.Kalyan also accused Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav of blatant misuse of official machinery to ensure victory for the Samajwadi Party nominees in the Lok Sabha polls. ‘‘The elections were not free and fair as the CM misused official machinery on a large scale,’’ he alleged.Meanwhile, barring the BJP party office, there was no visible activity in the party offices of any of the other major political players in UP. The SP party office wore a deserted look despite Mulayam’s return to Lucknow and the Congress office was mostly deserted even as the top party workers were camping in Delhi.
