The voter in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is set to form a government, has rejected the “politics of appeasement”, party’s firebrand leader Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday. The MP told IANS that the people’s mandate for the Bharatiya Janata Party was in favour of the credo pitched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi: ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikaas’ (Development for all).
“People have rejected the politics of appeasement and discrimination,” he said, in an apparent reference to the poor showing by the ruling Samajwadi Party and its ally the Congress.
“People want development for all, without any discrimination,” he said.
“The good governance model of the Modi government and in BJP-ruled states attracted people towards the party,” he added.
The ruling Samajwadi Party and its ally the Congress trailed at a poor second spot (75 seats) while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was gasping at 30 seats.
As celebrations erupted at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi and the BJP office in Lucknow, Congress leaders admitted that Uttar Pradesh was a huge setback but took pride in the showing in Punjab.
“It is a monumental setback. We are disappointed with Uttar Pradesh,” Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha said. Added Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit: “Our party is looking confused.”
The BJP was scripting a success story in Congress-ruled Uttarakhand too. BJP candidates led in a whopping 51 of the 64 seats where counting trends were available, pushing the Congress to a poor second spot (12 seats).
Incumbent Chief Minister Harish Rawat was trailing, officials said.
In Manipur, the ruling Congress led in 16 of the 28 constituencies, followed by the BJP in 11.
