BJP should learn from recent losses: Union Minister Anupriya Patel

Anupriya Patel, whose Apna Dal (S) party is an ally of NDA, on Thursday reiterated her party's stance, saying that the BJP was not giving due respect to the smaller allies.

"BJP should learn from recent losses. SP-BSP alliance is a challenge for us. My party president has already expressed the party's view and I stand by it," said Patel, who is also Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.

Apna Dal (S) president and Patel's husband, Ashish Patel, on Tuesday, said that Uttar Pradesh BJP leadership has not given them the due respect and the possible alliance between SP and BSP in UP might prove to be a setback to the NDA.

Ashish said that BJP should learn from the recent losses in the state Assembly elections of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Speculating on the outcomes of a possible alliance between regional parties in Uttar Pradesh, he had said, "State BJP leadership is not giving us the respect we deserve, they should learn from recent losses. The SP-BSP alliance is a challenge for us, allies in UP are upset, leadership at Centre must do something, else NDA would suffer in UP."

Citing that the party leader and Lok Sabha MP Anupriya Patel had not been invited for the inauguration of a medical college in the state, he further blamed the BJP leadership for showing disrespect to his party workers and ignoring them.