A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Uttar Pradesh has used satirical poetry to attack a “helpless chief minister” and the influence of the Sangh Parivar after the party lost bye-elections in two constituencies in the state on Thursday. In a Facebook post soon after the results, legislator Shyam Prakash said the losses in Kairana and Noorpur had enough hints for the party to set things right.

Prakash is an MLA from Gopamau in Hardoi district. Bye-elections for the Kairana Lok Sabha seat and Noorpur Assembly seat were held on Monday. The BJP lost both to candidates fielded by a united Opposition.

Prakash wrote in Hindi that he was sad after the BJP’s defeats, but wanted to use poetry to express the “current reality”. In the poem, he said the BJP had come to power in the name of Narendra Modi, but has not delivered on the people’s expectations. Citizens as well as legislators are in distress, officers are corrupt, and the chief minister, Adityanath, is helpless, he wrote.

However, he told PTI that he did not target the chief minister in the poem. “All I want to convey is that the officials are not working as per the intention of the chief minister,” he said. “I am of the view that government officials are still indulging in acts of corruption. Common people and BJP workers are feeling harassed.”

Prakash said he had no complaints against the government or the Sangh. “But it seems that there is no control on government officials,” he told PTI. “Corruption has increased.”

Another MLA, Surendra Singh of Bairia constituency in Ballia, blamed ministers in the Adityanath government for the party’s defeats. The BJP’s downfall in Uttar Pradesh is certain if some ministers are not removed, he said.

“For the losses in the bye-polls, Chief Minister Adityanath is less responsible, his ministers are more responsible,” Surendra Singh said. The style of working of more than half of the ministers in the government is “not proper” and they do not give any importance to party workers, he said.

The BJP has not been able to give a transparent government in the state, Singh said.