BJP begins stock-taking after Datia and Bankipur setbacks

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor won the high-stakes Bankipur bypoll against Neeraj Kumar, while Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh defeated BJP’s Ashutosh Tiwari by 6,016 votes in Datia.

Nitish, now a Rajya Sabha member, was accompanied by JDU leaders — Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Lalan Singh and Sanjay Jha. “The discussion was about the social, economic and development issues. It was about how to take the state forward. Of course, the current political scenario also came up for discussion,” said a source. The PM, sources said, wanted to take feedback directly from the senior leaders of the coalition partner.

However, a senior party leader insisted that “it was more of a courtesy meeting” as Nitish Kumar has not met Modi since he came to Rajya Sabha.

In his meeting with Chouhan, during which the issues related to the Agriculture ministry, including the ongoing farmer protests in different parts, were discussed, the BJP’s rout in Datia also came up.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s dismal performance in the bypolls was a hot topic in party leaders’conversations inside and outside Parliament. The defeat in Bankipur, which has a high presence of forward castes, a key support base of the BJP, has alarmed the party leadership

“It was clearly an angry response to the UGC regulations and the NEET paper leaks,” said a senior BJP MP. The UGC regulations on caste discrimination on campuses, which were withdrawn after many upper caste groups protested in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and the NEET paper leaks that affected many families could “hurt the party’s prospects in the coming elections too, party leaders pointed out.

Assembly elections are due early next year in five states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.

“There is an assessment process. The party has already begun collecting feedback, and we will certainly do the needful correction,” said a senior office-bearer of the BJP. “We have to plug the holes … there is no doubt about it. Party leadership is aware of the resentment among the Brahmins and Thakurs … as well as OBC communities over the UGC guidelines. We will chalk out strategies to address their concerns before we launch the campaign for these elections,” he added.