Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Lucknow
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s magic appears to have swept the state away—and all opposition aside— as the party retains a majority of parliamentary seats in the state, although fewer that it won 2014.
The Prime Minister kept Varansi, winning the temple city by a large margin. By 5 pm, the BJP had already won 12 seats and was leading in another 48 seats. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh won from Lucknow, Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj got a second term, and the BJP also recorded victory in Bahraich and Aligarh.
BJP’s clean sweep in Uttar Pradesh points out that caste arithmetic of the SP-BSP-RLD mahagatbandhan failed to generate the chemistry. The Congress fighting on the front foot also did not cut any ice.
The SP-BSP-RLD mahagatbandhan, which was projected as a bulwark against a second term for BJP, has virtually been swept away leading in barely19 seats.
The BSP is leading in 13 seats and the SP in 6 seats. RLD’s Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary are trailing from Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat, respectively, while the third RLD candidate is trailing from Mathura.
The most embarrassing defeat stares in the face of Samajwadi party national president Akhilesh Yadav, who single-handedly worked for the success of the mahagatbandhan. He is leading in Azamgarh and father Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri.
But his wife Dimple Yadav is trailing in Kannauj and cousins Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav from Badaun and Firozabad, respectively. Even estranged uncle and head of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi party (Lohia) Shivpal Singh Yadav is trailing.
The Yadav first family had won five seats in their family bastion in central UP 2014. Later it won three crucial by-polls in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana.
The fate of Congress party is also pitiable. It appears that contrary to claims of its leaders it did play a spoiler for the mahagatbandhan.
AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra heavy duty campaigning did not convert into seats for the national party. In Amethi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been trailing since morning against union minister Smirit Irani.
While UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi won Rae Bareli, but it is an uphill task for Rahul Gandhi to retain Amethi which he has been representing from 2004.
Another Gandhi, Varun, a BJP candidate, won Pilibhit. BJP’s Ramapati Ram Tripathi retained Deoria, while the party’s Gorakhpur candidate Ravi Kishan reclaimed the crucial seat.
