Lucknow Handing defeat to Samajwadi Party, the BSP on Tuesday succeeded in making deep inroads into the SP bastion. The blow was severe for the Samajwadi Party, as it not only lost from its stronghold of Etawah and Bharthana, but was also handed over defeat by the Congress from Firozabad parliamentary constituency.

Congress candidate Raj Babbar triumphed over Dimple Yadav, daughter-in-law of SP supremo by over 85,000 votes in Firozabad, where polls were necessitated after the seat was vacated by her husband Akhilesh Yadav.

The party’s dismal show in Bharthana, the seat vacated by Mulayam Singh Yadav has put a big question mark on his hold in his home town. SP also faced major reverses in Haiser Bazar, Powayan and Isauli assembly segments, with the party candidate losing his deposit in Isauli and securing a third spot in Haiser Bazar.

The party had put everything at stake in Firozabad Lok Sabha seat by pitching Dimple Yadav and going all out to seek votes for the “bahu of the constituency.”

Firozabad, the city of bangles had been one of the party’s bastion primarily because of its sizeable Yadav population and also being adjacent to Etawah, the home district of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Samajwadi Party had camped in the constituency and had also pumped in “star power” summoning all the film stars associated with it to challenge the glamour quotient of not only Babbar, but also his Bollywood friends.

Party’s national general secretary Amar Singh asking the electorate to teach a lesson to “traitor” Raj Babbar had a little impact, as the electorate showed a clear shift from SP to Congress in just six months time with Babbar winning hands down by a margin of over 85,000 votes.

The only solace for the party was that it finished on the second spot at five seats of Etawah, Lalitpur, Rari, Padrauna and Bharthana though it has lost an equal number of seats in the process.

Though the party somehow managed to sidestep the Kalyan Singh effect in the Lok Sabha elections held in May this year, the exact effect of taking the former UP Chief Minister in its fold came on surface in the by-elections.