Both Akhilesh and Mayawati seeking revival of their 'phoenix spirit'

Post-election drubbing, both the UP leaders have started the onerous task of fixing responsibility and keeping their flock united

After facing virtual rout in Lok Sabha polls against the 'Modi wave', both Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have started the onerous task of fixing responsibility and keeping their flock united.

These parties have started cracking the whip to weed out non-performers and reinvent winning ways. While, SP managed to win only 5 seats, BSP scored nil against their respective tally of 23 and 20 in 2009 polls.

Primarily, these regional parties have the baggage of personality-based leadership and SP-BSP paid the price of trying to dilute their top leadership (read Mayawati and Yadav family for BSP and SP respectively).

While, BJP was fighting under the leadership of Modi, these regional parties were depending upon the respective local candidate to sail through in elections, which was rejected by electorate, political analyst Sudhir Panwar told Business Standard.

The resurgent Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) under its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi romped back home with 71 seats against its dismal performance of 10 seats in 2009. Its ally, Apna Dal managed to win both the seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Stunned by the crushing defeat, UP chief minister and ruling SP state president Akhilesh Yadav has sacked 36 party leaders holding ministerial ranks. Many of these individuals had been given such positions in run up to polls with an eye to reaping electoral dividends. This came a cropper.

Amid the chorus seeking Yadav's scalp as well, he has not offered to relinquish either his CM's post or of the party's state president. However, several of the ministers are likely to face the heat soon.

BSP supremo Mayawati has also dissolved all the zonal committees for their failure to mobilise voters, which led to poll defeat and loss of face for the dalit czarina.

Similarly, Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) failed to open its account, although it had won 5 seats in 2009. Both Singh and his son Jayant lost elections.

"These parties paid the price of believing in traditional politics without realising that the people have rejected such brand of polity," Panwar noted.

"Even SP, which had fought the 2012 UP polls under a young Akhilesh Yadav was trying to project party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav as probable prime minister," he said.

With UP elections still three years away, it would be relatively easier for SP to bounce back by making quick amends, but it would be a rough ride for BSP and RLD.