Trust in turncoats cost BJP Jharkhand, says party MP

 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the Jharkhand Assembly elections for ignoring loyal workers and showing faith in outsiders, according to a party MP from the state.

Nishikant Dubey, BJP MP from Godda in Jharkhand, stated in a facebook post that the party faced defeat as it had shown too much confidence in outsiders than own workers.

"It's too early for those who are analysing the Jharkhand elections. We lost because of the BJP rebels, and were not able to assess the mood of party workers. We had too much faith in those who had joined the BJP from other parties.

"The victory of Satyanand Bhokta from Chatra, Baidyanath Ram from Latehar, Sameer Mohanty from Baharagora, Umashankar Akela from Barhi, Amit Yadav from Barkatha and Saryu Roy from Jamshedpur East is the example," his Facebook post read.

He even advised the party to start preparing for the 2024 Assembly elections right away. "Wait for some time. Our party leadership is strong and honest. Our vote bank is safe. Congratulations to the new government. Fight for 2024 starts today itself," read his post.

According to party sources, post-poll defeat many leaders have written to the top party leadership about former Chief Minister Raghubar Das's attitude, discrepancies in ticket distribution and organisational lapses.

Dubey has also sent his report to the party leadership. But for the Facebook post, detail of his report is not known.

Notably, party rebel Amit Yadav defeated BJP's Janki Yadav by more than 24,000 votes. Janki Yadav had joined the BJP after leaving the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM). When the BJP denied ticket to Amit Yadav he contested elections as an Independent.

Similarly, Sameer Mohanty won by 60,565 votes the Baharagora seat from where the BJP had nominated Kunal Sarangi. He had quit the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to join the BJP.

The BJP had denied ticket to 13 more MLAs and nominated over two dozen turncoats, most of whom lost.

Dubey also expressed surprise over breaking of alliance with the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). "Why did the AJSU broke alliance with the BJP is not known? Sudesh Mahto is a good friend of mine and a very simple man."

Praveen Prabhakar, who quit BJP to join the National People's Party (NPP) after being denied ticket, told IANS: "The BJP lost because it gave to ticket to several inept people with bad image. I felt bad and warned the senior leadership. But due to lack of corrective measures, I resigned from the party.

"The surveys were also ignored during the ticket distribution," Prabhakar said.IANS