BJP lost bypolls because Keshav Prasad Maurya was not made chief minister: UP Minister

He said the reason for the disenchantment was that the BJP didn't make Keshav Prasad Maurya the chief minister of the state.

Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar. File Photo

BALLIA: The BJP lost the recent bypolls because the backward classes were unhappy with the party, Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbharsaidn on Monday. He said the reason for the disenchantment was that the BJP didn't make Keshav Prasad Maurya the chief minister of the state. "The BJP contested assembly polls with Keshav Prasad Maurya (a OBC) as its face but later Yogi Adityanath was made chief minister. Backwards supported the BJP in the hope that Maurya will become CM. The result of this anger reflected in the defeat of the BJP in bypolls", PTI quoted Rajbhar as saying over phone. Rajbhar is the head of BJP ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party. Asked whether Yogi Adityanath is responsible for the defeat in bypolls, he said, "Government is responsible. The BJP should introspect about reasons of its defeat. It's up to the BJP whom to make CM. It's up to the party to make Yogi or Keshav as CM." The BJP lost both the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly seats in the recent polls. Tabassum Hasan of the Rashtriya Lok Dal won the Kairana seat by a margin of 44,618 votes, while Naeemul Hasan of the SP bagged the Noorpur Assembly seat by 5,662 votes. The winning RLD candidate in Kairana was backed by the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. In Noorpur, the main opposition parties supported the SP nominee. Against this united opposition, the BJP's all-out effort to stop a chain of losses in bypolls in the state since 2014 proved futile even though Chief Minister Adityanath led from the front. (With PTI inputs)