Had Prajapati been arrested, we would have won more seats: Congress leader

Senior Congress leader Pradeep Mathur said had Prajapati, wanted in an alleged gangrape case and attempt to rape a minor, been arrested, the SP-Congress combine would have won a few more seats.

The Samajwadi Party’s internal feud and the controversy surrounding former minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati have contributed to the defeat of the Congress-SP alliance in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, senior Congress leader Pradeep Mathur said on Sunday.

Gayatri Prasad Prajapati (HT File Pholo)

Former UP Congress Legislature Party leader Mathur said had Prajapati, wanted in an alleged gangrape case and attempt to rape a minor, been arrested, the SP-Congress combine would have won a few more seats.

“If sincere efforts were made for the arrest of Prajapati and had he been arrested, it would have added a feather in the cap of the SP-Congress combine to the extent that we might have won a few more seats,” he told reporters here.

The infighting in the SP had spoilt the game since the poll process began, said Mathur, who lost to BJP’s Shrikant Sharma in Mathura seat by over one lakh votes.

He also attributed the massive victory of the BJP to polarisation and the support of the poor and the lower-middle class to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move.

“The media management by the BJP was also responsible for our debacle, he said.

Showing astonishing performance, the BJP got 312 seats in the 403-member Assembly. Its allies Apna Dal(S) and SBSP bagged nine seats and four seats, respectively, taking the total tally of the combine to 325.

The SP won 47 seats while its ally the Congress got just seven seats. The BSP won just 19 seats, finishing a dismal third.