Lucknow, Feb. 9 -- The BJP's resounding victory in the bypoll in Milkipur may now put an end to the sallies it was scorched with ever since its humiliating defeat eight months ago on the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat.
The loss then, suffered at the district which was the epicentre of the party's mega overture to its Hindu votebank, all but flustered its top brass.
The Samajwadi Party, which won the Ayodhya seat, let go of no chance to rub in the insult. Its chief Akhilesh Yadav flaunted Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad, the first Dalit to win the seat, as a trophy, and made him sit in
the front row of Parliament alongside Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
All the same, it is now apparent that BJP didn't like taking it lying down. It quickly reworked the poll dynamics and catalysed the cadre's spirits with clever campaigning.
"Ayodhya ka badla le liya (avenged Faizabad loss)," was the party workers' refrain after the win.
Surya Pratap Shahi, the BJP in-charge of Ayodhya, interpreted the win as a people-inspired "course correction" after the 2024 shocker.
Chandrabhanu Paswan, 38, won the Milkipur by-poll by a margin of 61,710 votes, defeating his closest rival Samajwadi Party's Ajit Prasad, 42.
Both parties had put up Pasi - a key Dalit subcaste in the region - candidates in the by-poll.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.