Overconfidence hurt BJP's hopes in Lok Sabha polls: Adityanath at party meeting

Lucknow: In the first major meeting of the Uttar Pradesh BJP unit after the Lok Sabha poll debacle in the state, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said "overconfidence" has hurt the BJP's hopes in this year's elections.

Addressing the BJP's UP working committee meeting here, Adityanath said while the BJP managed managed to maintain its vote share of previous elections, there was a "shifting of votes", and now the "defeated" opposition is "jumping around" again.

The chief minister said, "Under the leadership of PM Modi, we had maintained constant pressure on the opposition in UP, achieving great success in 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2022 (national and state elections)." "The percentage of votes that BJP had in its favour in 2014 and subsequent elections, BJP has been successful in getting the same number of votes in 2024 as well, but the shifting of votes and overconfidence have hurt our expectations," he said.

"The opposition, which had earlier accepted defeat, is again jumping around today," the chief minister said here at the concluding session of the day-long meeting at Ambedkar Auditorium of Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University in Lucknow.

Adityanath's remarks comes after a day after the BJP-led NDA's dismal performance in by-elections in seven states.

In a boost to the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, its members won the bypolls to 10 of the 13 assembly constituencies in seven states, while the BJP managed to bag two and an Independent pocketed one as votes were counted on Saturday.

The Election Commission is yet to announce the schedule for the assembly bypolls in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 33 seats, down from 62 it clinched in 2019. The Congress won six seats, while its I.N.D.I.A. bloc ally Samajwadi Party bagged 37 seats from UP, which sends 80 members to the Lower House of Parliament.

Addityanath said the BJP does not have to "go on the backfoot" since they have done good work.

Addressing party workers, he said "When you were in the opposition, you used to fight for the issues of the people. When you were in government, you saw the security environment in UP. Remember, roads used to be empty during Muharram, and today, it is being held without attracting any attention." Praising the law and order in the state, Adityanath said, "After the 2022 (UP Assembly) elections, the opposition started jumping around and resorted to violence. But with your support in our government's 'Mafia-free UP' campaign, we succeeded in freeing the state from goons and mafia."