BJP underestimated 'unnatural' SP-BSP deal: Yogi Adityanath

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said the BJP under-estimated the SP-BSP alliance that led to its defeat in the byelections to the prestigious Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats and termed it as a lesson to the party which would do an introspection.

Reacting to the shocking defeat of the party in the seats held by him and his Deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, he, however, expressed confidence that this would have no impact on the General Elections in 2019 in which national issues will play a dominant role and it will be a vote on the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"When the parliamentary byelections were declared, all opposition parties SP, BSP, Congress were fighting separately. Towards the end... in the midst of campaigning for the byelections, the SP and BSP entered into an unnatural deal in view of the Rajya Sabha biennial elections and there was some shortcoming on our part in understanding its impact and over-confidence is a factor in this," Adityanath said.

He said local factors play a role in byelections but in the General Elections, the good performance of the Modi government and its welfare schemes will have an impact in BJP's favour.

The Chief Minister conceded that the results were unexpected and the defeat is a lesson for the BJP which will do introspection about the causes of the setback and devise strategies to defeat the opposition. "The party needs to do a serious introspection rather than remain complacent," he said.

Adityanath said he accepted the verdict in the two by-elections in the state as people are supreme in democracy but he hoped that people will also understand the harm that could come on the state due to this SP-BSP alliance.

He congratulated the two winners and hoped that they will work for development of the state.