Sidelining minority led to party's loss in UP, says BJP leader

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ramakant Yadav on Thursday acknowledged his party's defeat in the Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha bypolls, saying it was the result of sidelining the minority.

"The way the minorities and the Dalits are being sidelined, its result has come today itself. I want to tell my party that if they take the Dalits and the minorities along, then a satisfactory result can be achieved in 2019," Yadav told ANI.

The BJP received an unexpected blow in the by-elections after it lost both Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats, which were previously held by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya respectively.

Both seats, especially Gorakhpur, were hence seen as a matter of prestige for the party ruling in the state as well as Centre.

The Samajwadi Party (SP), in alliance with the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), emerged victorious in the bypolls.