SP blames poll defeat on internal sabotage

Internal sabotage, an impression of lack of governance by the Akhilesh Yadav government, the policy of Muslim appeasement and frequent changes of candidates were held as key factors responsible for the Samajwadi Party debacle in Uttar Pradesh.

SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav called a meeting of all SP Lok Sabha candidates on Monday to discuss why it did so badly. Most candidates said they faced a lot of resistance from SP MLAs or ministers.

“Candidates from Jaunpur, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Ghazipur, Bhadohi, Phulpur, Lucknow, Sambhal and Maharajganj told the leadership local SP legislators and ministers didn’t cooperate with them and even worked against them in some cases. We noted these complaints, and will take stern action after verifying them,” a senior SP leader said.

The performance of some SP ministers also led to the defeat of SP candidates in their constituencies. This was most pronounced in Azamgarh, where Mulayam Singh Yadav was himself a candidate. The unpopularity of local ministers made his victory difficult.

Several SP candidates felt frequent changes of candidates increased factional wars in constituencies and led to the party’s defeat. In Lucknow and Pratapgarh, candidates kept getting changed till the last minute, and this led to a division in party ranks. Some candidates blamed officials ( read poor governance of the Akhilesh government) for their defeat.

They said the state machinery worked in favour of their rivals and they could do little about it. One of the candidates from eastern UP said said: “Officials worked against us, and the chief minister was never available when we tried to contact him. He seems to have lost control over the state machinery, and this lack of governance did us in. If our leaders do not change their style of functioning, we can prepare for a similar rout in the Assembly polls too.”