Farmers Movement Archive

Amit Shah to lead BJP’s strategising for high-stake Uttar Pradesh elections

Vibha SharmaTribune News ServiceNew Delhi, August 20Home Minister Amit Shah will lead the BJP’s strategising for the high-stake elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly scheduled next year sources said following a meeting of the top central leadership in Delhi on Thursday in which Chief Minister Adityanath also participated.Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda met Adityanath along with state president Swatantra Dev Singh and general secretary Sunil Bansal to discuss “poll preparedness, party’s upcoming programmes, and public response to the ‘Jan Ashirvad Yatra’”.However, the meeting also regenerated the buzz regarding the expansion of the Adityanath Cabinet by “August-end”. A senior leader in the know of the developments said that the “expansion and appointments to MLC and corporations (if at all) will be done after the festival of ‘Rakhshabandhan’ by August-end”.“Any time after that will lose meaning given that polls are just about six months away and newly inducted ministers will hardly get any time,” he said. Though apparently the state unit “is not in favour of the expansion, given the acrimony it may create among those left out”, the central leadership appears to be in its favour and wants some prominent Brahmin and OBC faces included in the Adityanath Cabinet and vacant MLC posts to be filled, the sources added  The names of Jitin Prasada, Laxmikant Bajpai and AK Sharma, a close confidante of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and some from the NDA allies like the Nishad Party and the Apna Dal are doing the rounds in this context.So far as the strategy party is concerned, the sources said Shah will personally monitor the detailing. So far, the party is believed to have decided to appoint a ‘prabhari’ (in charge) in every Assembly constituency.“There will be a coordinator responsible for four to five constituencies. BJP ministers, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs from the state will be given these responsibilities,” they said, underlining the seriousness with which the party is taking the UP elections.The BJP is also launching a massive membership drive with the aim to add 2 crore members from the state. Next week Nadda is expected to address party cadres and interact with booth and sector heads in the state. The party will also start ‘panna pramukh’ conferences in September to activate the cadresWhile leaders insist the BJP is “doing well and all is under control”, observers are sensing “worries in the saffron camp” regarding the coming polls. Recently a BJP MLA’s car was allegedly attacked in western UP’s Muzaffarnagar by “people protesting the centre's contentious farm laws”. Budhana MLA Umesh Malik was attending an event in Sisauli village, the home turf of farmer leader Rakesh Tikait in Western UP, the region where the saffron party is expected to face a tough challenge in 2022.

The Tribune

2021-08-21