The BJP’s defeats in Lucknow West and Kolasla Assembly by-elections are self-inflicted wounds. The party had been winning both constituencies for long. But this time, it fielded candidates who did not enjoy the confidence of the cadres. As a result, while Congress won Lucknow West after about 25 years, a BJP rebel won in Kolasla.

While Lucknow West, where the party has won six times, fell vacant after its three-time MLA Lalji Tandon was elected MP from Lucknow, the Kolasla seat fell vacant after its three-time MLA Ajay Rai joined the Samajwadi Party and contested the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP’s candidate for Lucknow West, Amit Puri, was said to be party national president Rajnath Singh’s choice. Puri was not liked by sections of the party because he had once left the BJP when denied ticket. Besides Tandon, who wanted a ticket for his own son, kept away from Puri’s campaign. Together, this helped in the victory of Congress’ Shyam Kishore Shukla.

In Kolasla, MLA Ajay Rai left the party when Murli Manohar Joshi was fielded as BJP candidate from Varanasi in the Lok Sabha election. Here, the BJP fielded a non-entity Ajay Singh who was said to be Joshi’s choice. Singh had little rapport with local workers and was spending most of his time in Mumbai, looking after his business, even during the last stages of the election campaign.

Taking advantage, Ajay Rai, who contested as an Independent, managed to rope in many BJP workers and even corporators, in his campaign. Rai has won again, defeating his nearest rival of the BSP with a margin of over 8,000 votes. The BJP candidate has lost his deposit.

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