Whilethe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in most districts in the Panchayatelections, reports coming in from Varanasi and Ayodhya -- the two districtscrucial for the party politics in Uttar Pradesh -- are not exactly encouraging.
Thereare 40 Zila Panchayat seats in Varanasi and the Samajwadi Party has won 15seats while the BJP could win only 8 seats.
TheBSP has won five seats while Apna Dal has won three seats and the SuheldevBhartiya Samaj Party has won one seat. Three seats have been won byindependents.
Varanasiis Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency and maximumdevelopment work has taken place here in the past seven years.
InAyodhya, the Samajwadi Party has won 24 of the 40 Zila Panchayat seats whilethe BJP could win only six seats. On the remaining 10 seats, the BSP has wonfive and independents also got five.
Varanasiand Ayodhya have been the focal point of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath'sdevelopment policies and the two cities are being developed as the hub ofreligious tourism.
TheBJP spokesmen refused to comment on the results saying that they wouldintrospect on the reasons for the party's unexpected performance.
Asenior party functionary, however, said that the results were a result of angerprevailing among the cadres and also the number of rebel candidates.
"Cadreshave been complaining for long that their grievances are not being addressed inthe districts where officials call the shots. This is a warning signal for usand we need to set things right before the Assembly polls next year," hesaid.
Thefunctionary, who did not wish to be named, also blamed the local ministers inVaranasi for the party's poor performance.
"Theyhave not been connecting to party workers. This lack of connect between leadersand workers is responsible for the party's performance," he added.