LUCKNOW, Dec 30: Uttar Pradesh was a parched land for the Bharatiya Jata Party (BJP) for 14 long years. Ever since the then Chief Minister Rajth Singh lost the plot in the 2003 state assembly elections, the saffron party found itself on the sidelines of the country’s politically most crucial State. In election after election, the BJP was battered by regiol satraps like Samajwadi party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati. In 2017, its political “vanvaas” (exile) ended and the party romped home with its highest seat tally ever — 312 in a house of 403.