After its worst showing in Uttar Pradesh in two decades, the BJP has decided to send fact-finding teams to each region of the state to understand what went wrong in the just concluded Assembly polls.

Seven two-member teams are being formed from among the party’s vice-presidents and general secretaries. Initial reports are expected to be discussed at the BJP core group meeting early next month. A detailed discussion will be held during a National Executive scheduled for June 15-17 in Jaipur by which time final reports are expected to be in place.

Urgently looking for ways to bounce back and restore the morale of party cadres in view of the series of state elections due this year, the party leadership is keen that credible steps are taken to revive the party after what is widely seen as a debacle in Uttar Pradesh, fix responsibility accordingly and find ways to grow out of it.

The need for remedial steps also stems from the fact that the Uttar Pradesh results came at a time when a resurgent BJP following back-to-back victories in Punjab and Uttarakhand had begun fancying its chances of returning to power in the next general election. It does not want to lose the momentum.

The party leadership is already planning tough steps that could see changes at least in Uttar Pradesh. On Tuesday, Kalyan Singh resigned as the party in-charge for the state and on Thursday the BJP legislature party replaced Lalji Tandon by Om Prakash Singh as its leader even though the former had won his seat.

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