UP polls: BJP in a tough spot

By welcoming non-Yadav OBC deserters from the BJP, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is emulating the BJP's own strategy in General Elections of 2014 and 2019 & the Legislative Elections of 2017 in the state.

On the eve of the Uttar Pradesh polls, 9 BJP legislators including three ministers have quit, making their way to its main adversary, the Samajwadi Party (SP). The defectors have boasted that each day three to four legislators from the BJP will leave till January 20 – with the 21st being the last date to file nominations for the first phase of the elections.

This has been described by one of the deserters as a ‘political earthquake’ and by political observers as a ‘set-back’ and a ‘major jolt’ to the BJP. Most of those leaving represent the smaller, non-Yadav Other Backward