UP: BJP to replace Tripathy too

Uttar Pradesh state chief Kesrinath Tripathy will be the third senior BJP leader after Kalyan Singh and Lalji Tandon to be replaced after the poll debacle. The issue came up at the BJP core committee meeting at former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee8217;s house on Wednesday. The move also falls in line with holding organisational elections in the state, along with Uttarakhand and Delhi.

BJP president Rajnath Singh had insisted that the party as a whole should take the blame for the loss. Since then, a series of messages have gone down to the largely discredited state leadership that they must leave on their own if they did not want to be shown the door as the party begins preparations for the next general elections. There is also a growing view that the party should take quick remedial steps instead of getting involved in post-election analysis and fact-finding.

As one leader put it, 8220;We failed to convey to the voters that our leaders had no links with the Mulayam Singh Yadav government.8221; Kalyan Singh, whose erstwhile RKP was in alliance with the SP before he was brought back into the BJP fold, as well as Tripathy8217;s purported links with the party. ENS