Union minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will brainstorm about the recent bypoll results where it lost Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi Lok Sabha seat and three assembly constituencies while also losing two seats in Bengal.
Speaking of the party’s defeat in Himachal Pradesh, Thakur said that steps will be taken to make necessary improvements. “Himachal Pradesh BJP will call a timely meeting, discuss people's mandate and look for reasons behind it. Learning from it, steps will be taken to make necessary improvements so that lotus blooms once again in 2022,” Thakur was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
On the BJP losing seats in Bengal, Thakur highlighted that the bypolls are held on local issues. He also pointed out that the BJP was victorious in Assam, Madhya Pradesh and secured 1 seat in Karnataka. “It's too early to say anything. Results came in different states of the country. The BJP won all 5 seats in Assam, we won in MP and won 1 out of 2 seats in Karnataka. Every state has its own local issues for bypolls, every political party brainstorms over it. We'll do too,” Thakur said. The party was also victorious in Telangana’s Huzurabad bypoll.
Congress swept the Himachal Pradesh bypolls as the BJP lost the Mandi Lok Sabha seat to Pratibha Singh, wife of late former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Pratibha Singh’s win could have given Congress a possible chief ministerial face ahead of the polls in the northern state where polls will be held next December.
{{/usCountry}}Congress swept the Himachal Pradesh bypolls as the BJP lost the Mandi Lok Sabha seat to Pratibha Singh, wife of late former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Pratibha Singh’s win could have given Congress a possible chief ministerial face ahead of the polls in the northern state where polls will be held next December.
{{/usCountry}}Congress also won the Arki, Fatehpur and Jubbal-Kotkhai constituencies. In other states, Congress won one assembly seat in Karnataka, won two assembly seats in Rajasthan and managed to retain Raigaon assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP made gains in Assam and Madhya Pradesh but lost ground in West Bengal as Trinamool Congress swept the bypolls in all four seats.
Earlier on Tuesday, BJP leader and Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai made similar observations and said that the BJP will look seriously into the defeat in Karnataka after BJP lost the Hangal assembly seat to Congress.