THE OTHER REASON FOR LOSS

Theperformance ofAdityanathand MauryaasMPs haddeclined

Was a caste coalition alone responsible for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) defeat in Phulpur and Gorakhpur? Certainly, it was a big factor. But maybe a contributing factor was also the way the electorate reacted to the performance of YogiAdityanath and KP Maurya as their representatives in the Lok Sabha. Adityanathand Maurya campaigned for the UP polls at the beginning of 2017, while took up the posts of the chief and the deputy chief minister, respectively, in March 2017. But

they relinquished their Lo kS ab ha seats only in September 2017. For aboutsixmonths, theywereboth MPsandchief/deputyCMs.

Put in charge of running India' s biggest state, Adityanath

and Maury a must have got less time to look after the demands of people in their parliamentary constituencies.

The accompanying charts tell the story. Adi ty ana th asked the

government 89 questions in 2014. This fell to 31 questions in 2017– when he campaigned forth estate elections. Similarly, Maurya’s attendance in the Lo kS ab ha was 100percentin2014. But it dipped to 27 percentin 2017.

Maybe one of the lessons for MP sis–if you want tobe re elected, ensure your parliamentary performance is adequate. This is all the more relevant given that Parliament hasn’ t trans acted any business for the last 14 days!