Uttar Pradesh BJP chief offers to quit

Taking responsibility for the dismal performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, state unit chief Surya Pratap Shahi has offered to resign. In a letter to pparty president Nitin Gadkari, Shahi has said that the humilating show of the party had shocked him like others and it was his moral responsbility to own up for the poor show at the hustings. Other than the party, which slipped from 51 seats in 2007 to 47 in the just-concluded polls, Shahi himself lost from the Pathardeva seat. The BJP’s other top brass - barring Kalraj Mishra who won from Lucknow (East) - former minister Om Prakash Singh and former speaker Keshari Nath Tripathi, among others - also lost the elections. Though Shahi has put in his papers, the party is unlikely to accept it in a hurry as many national leaders too had campigned in the state but could make little difference. “In a situation where all leaders had canvassed, it would be unfair to single out a single person for the defeat and am sure the national leadership would keep this in mind before taking a decision on Shahi’s resignation,” a senior BJP leader said.