IANS/Lucknow
In a stunning admission a day before vote count, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajnath Singh yesterday said his party may not be able to form a government in Uttar Pradesh.“The results will be bright for the BJP, there is no doubt about it. We fought to get a majority. But candidly speaking, it appears we might fall short of the numbers required to form the government,” the former chief minister said.This is the first candid public admission by a BJP leader that the party may not be able to take office in the country’s most populous state where it held sway for years.The millions of votes cast in Uttar Pradesh along with those polled in Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur will be counted today.Most exit polls after the close of Uttar Pradesh’s staggered balloting have predicted that the BJP would finish third in the four-horse race, behind the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The polls gave the BJP more seats than the Congress.Rajnath Singh, 60, a former party president, said while the BJP was set to improve its tally in the 403-member assembly, it would fall short of the half-way mark. He ruled out the BJP aligning with the BSP or the Samajwadi Party to form a coalition government.“The BJP has all along maintained that there will be no truck with any party, neither before the polls nor after.”Rajnath Singh insisted that the record high turnout in Uttar Pradesh was undoubtedly a “definite boost for the party’s prospects.”He attributed the successful turnout to campaigns by social activist Anna Hazare, spiritual guru Ravi Ravi Shankar and yoga guru Baba Ramdev.Asked if corruption was a major campaign issue for voters, he said it was “important but not a major” issue. Rajnath Singh, who began his career as a physics lecturer, joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a teenager. He was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from October 2000 to March 2002.He became the BJP president in 2005, and was succeeded by incumbent Nitin Gadkari in 2009.Rajnath Singh is known to be ranged against senior party colleague and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti, who ran the BJP campaign in Uttar Pradesh.He admitted that the BJP’s decision to admit tainted BSP leader Babu Singh Kushwaha ahead of the election harmed his party.“I can safely say the entry of Kushwaha did not help us.” As for possible damage, he said it would be assessed after the election results became known.l The Uttar Pradesh cabinet passed a resolution recommending dissolution of the 403-member assembly late Sunday.The decision was taken after the chief minister’s office got signatures of all cabinet ministers appended to such a resolution. There was no formal cabinet meeting.The advancing of the constitutional obligation took many by surprise, as an outgoing government usually passes such a resolution only after the poll results are announced. Once such a resolution is passed and signed by the chief minister, it is taken to the governor for approval and issuance of notification declaring dissolution of the state assembly.The move assumes significance, as most polls have given a lead to the Samajwadi Party (SP) suggesting that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) could well be voted out of power in India’s most populous state.After maintaining a studied silence for the last two days on exit polls outcome, the BSP has said it would “make it comfortably to power.”“All exit pollsters would eat humble pie when the election results are out,” state BSP president Swami Prasad Maurya said.