Have to take 2 steps back for a big leap: Rajnath Singh on BJP's bypoll drubbing

With the BJP facing reverses in bypolls to Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said one has to take two steps backward before a big leap.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Photo: PTI

NEW DELHI: With the BJP facing reverses in bypolls to Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said one has to take two steps backward before a big leap. Asked about the BJP's performance in the by-elections to 11 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats in various states ahead of next year's general polls, Singh, in a lighter vein, said, "For a massive leap, one always has to go two steps backward." "We are going to take a massive leap," the senior BJP leader said. The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was addressing a press conference here to highlight the NDA government's achievements in the last four years. Opposition parties won 11 bypolls, limiting the saffron party and its allies to just three, out of four Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats across 11 states -- riding high on strengthening non-BJP unity in run-up to the 2019 general elections. Lok Sabha bypoll results appeared equally divided at 2-2 between the BJP-plus-allies and the opposition parties. Figures for the 10 assembly bypolls came as a big setback for the ruling party which could manage just one seat.