'In name of PM Modi's charisma, BJP overlooked many factors': How overconfidence brought down party's tally in UP

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party winning 37, BJp 33, Congress 6 and BSP 0 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh not just speaks volume about the dynamism and complexities that this politically largest state is known for, but also explains the inaccuracy in the assessment of the ground situation by many pollsters, and functionaries of different political parties.
However, what is intriguing from the BJP point of view is its inability to read the anger among the core voters, local BJP units and relatively inactive RSS foot soldiers.
More than the inability to read the situation right, it was the "overconfidence" of the party which is to be blamed for the inaccuracy in the assessment of the ground situation, said a party insider.
"Whenever the leadership was confronted with a diverse viewpoint, the usual retort was "you don't know anything. What we are doing is the right type of approach," said a party functionary. Take for example, the Rajput protest.

Despite many warnings that the situation might go out of control, not much concerted effort was taken to diffuse the situation as was done during the 2017 assembly elections, when reconciliatory steps were initiated to appease the Jat community, a few days before the voting.
In fact, the leadership remained in a denial mode even when the Rajput 'anger' came out in the open during the first phase of polling.
While only a few per cent of Rajputs and other castes may not have voted for the BJP, there was no efforts to assuage the loss, or to even admit the ground reality.

Elaborating further, a party insider said, "Even when the survey reports gave negative feedback for many candidates, the leadership decided to repeat many of them on the ground that the was not about candidates, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
"In the name of Modi's charisma, the BJP overlooked many factors, ending up maintaining a more casual approach on other issues," said the insider.
Even after the names of candidates were announced, several district units had expressed resentment, but no measures were taken either to pacify them or solve their issues.
In many cases, RSS volunteers who used to be active during the elections and were a strong force in persuading