Stop befooling people, work on ground: New SP MPs attack BJP

Claiming that resentment against BJP rule was already brewing, SP leaders Praveen Nishad and Nagendra Singh Patel, who wrested Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats from the saffron party in bypolls yesterday, say they were confident of emerging victorious right from the start.

"The ruling BJP after forming the government in Uttar Pradesh is befooling the people and not doing anything for them. I was confident about my victory despite Gorakhpur being considered a stronghold of Adityanath," Nishad told PTI.

Nishad broke the 29-year stranglehold on the seat where a candidate from the 'mutt' would repeatedly win.

An engineer by profession, Nishad polled 4,56,513 votes to defeat BJP's Upendra Shukla who bagged 4,34,632 votes.

 

Praveen, whose father Sanjay Nishad heads the Nishad Party, termed his victory as a vote against policies of the Centre.

"Much is being said but nothing is there on the ground," he claimed.

The other victorious SP candidate, Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel, who won the Phulpur bypoll by defeating BJP's Kaushalendra Singh Patel by a margin of 59,460 votes, aired similar views.

"During campaigning, the mood of people of my constituency clearly indicated my victory.

"All sections of the society are fed up with this government, which believes more in gimmicks but works less on the ground. The people have understood that they were be-fooled during assembly polls and were waiting for a chance to strike," Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel told PTI.

Among issues to be raised by me include plight of farmers, who could not sow their crops due to menace of stray cattle, he said.

Both the newly elected MPs will take oath tomorrow.

The Phulpur seat was vacated by the former MP and the present deputy CM of the state Keshav Prasad Maurya.

Terming his victory as "important" for both SP and BSP, Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel said it was a win for all the parties which were against BJP.

The wins take the SP's tally in Lok Sabha to seven.

Chief Minister Adityanath had yesterday accepted the defeat and said, "the over-confidence and inability to understand the electoral understanding between the SP and the BSP led to the defeat. We will analyse the results.