After bypoll loss, 'reality check' for BJP from its own MLA in UP

LUCKNOW: On a day when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered losses in bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, party MLA on Thursday attacked the ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government. Through a satirical poem in Hindi, BJP MLA Shyam Prakash from Gopamau in Hardoi recalled the string of bypoll losses suffered by the BJP in UP this year. "First it was Gorakhpur and Phulpur, and now it is Kairana and Noorpur," he posted on Facebook.

Shyam said that the party came to power invoking Prime Minister Narendra Modi but could not deliver up to the people's expectations. "Modi naam se paa gaye raaj, kar naa sake janta man kaaj. (The government came to power by invoking Modi but could not win the hearts of people)," it read.

However, he said that the poem does not target the Chief Minister. "All I want to convey is that the officials are not working as per the intention of the Chief Minister. I am of the view that government officials are still indulging in acts of corruption. Common people and BJP workers are feeling harassed," he said.

In his poem, he also hinted that the control is in the hands of the RSS while the CM is helpless. Though clarifying his remarks, he said that he has no complaints against the government or the Sangh but claimed that corruption has increased. "It seems that there is no control on government officials. Corruption has increased," he said. 

Speaking about why he took to write the poem, Shyam said: "The thoughts roaming in the mind assumed the shape of poetry, and I had never expected that the poem will go viral. At times, a novice too delivers an out-of-the-box item. The defeat of the party in the bypolls also signals a possible threat to the future of the MLAs. It was a sad thing for us," he said.

(With PTI inputs)