Too many cooks, they say, spoil the broth and in the BJP, too many leaders and too many voices spoiled the show. The party that was tipped to make substantial gains in these elections has remained even below 51-seat mark that it had got in 2007. The BJP could win only 47 seats this time.
The BJP, in these elections had all the factors working in its favour but multiple voices and a lack of “face” in the campaign left its voters thoroughly confused.
The party could have made major gains in eastern UP where the Peace Party tried to polarise Muslim votes in its favour and caused a multiple split of minority votes as a whole.
But the BJP, during elections in eastern UP, chose to sideline Mahant Yogi Adityanath, who happens to the biggest Hindu icon in the region and has been instrumental in polarising Hindu votes in BJP’s favour since the past two decades.
Yogi Adityanath kept sulking refused to campaign in constituencies outside his area of influence and the BJP failed to take the advantage of split in Muslim votes.
In Bundelkhand, sacked BSP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha campaigned aggressively and tried his best to polarise OBCs in favour of BJP. He could have succeeded but BJP leaders kept speaking in conflicting tones about him and lost whatever advantage he could have brought in.