NEW DELHI: Only one man will be to blame if the BJP loses three prestige Lok Sabha bypoll battles in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar today, said the Shiv Sena's
Sanjay Raut. And that man is
Naresh Agarwal, newly-inducted BJP member, formerly of the Samajwadi Party (SP), he said.
The Bahujan Samaj Party-backed SP candidates forged ahead of the BJP candidates in both the
Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats in UP around 1pm today in counting trends. In the Bihar Lok Sabha bypoll for the Araria seat, the Rashtriya Janata Dal took the lead early afternoon against the BJP candidate.
"I don't believe the alliance of the SP-BSP is what's working (in keeping the SP-BSP candidates ahead). What I believe is that the day you (the BJP) unrolled the red carpet for a man who criticised Lord Ram the most, that day Lord Ram too turned against you," said Raut.
Raut is referring to the fact that Agarwal - who was inducted into the BJP two days ago - had last year, when he was SP MP, compared various Hindu gods, including Ram, to various kinds of alcohol.
That's the reason, says Raut, the BJP may lose today.
