BJP seeks to cash in on UP situation
In an attempt to cash in on the anger against the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh over the communal riots, the BJP is planning a series of rallies of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from next month in the run-up to the general polls.
Hoping to capitalise on the likely polarisation of votes in the state, Mr Modi, considered a “Hindutva icon”, will address in “eight zones” — west, Braj, Rohilkhand, Kanpur, Awadh, Bundelkhand, Gorakhpur and Kashi — after Navratras.
These rallies will culminate on December 25, birthday of party patriarch and former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, with Mr Modi addressing a rally in Lucknow, sources disclosed.
Party sources said other “Hindutva” leaders, including Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Murli Manohar Joshi and former state chief minister Kalyan Singh, whose party merged with the BJP and were involved in the Ram Mandir movement, will contest in the Lok Sabha polls from the state. The BJP’s UP core group had a meeting with the Central leadership on Tuesday to assess the party’s position in the aftermath of the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and evolve a strategy for the Lok Sabha polls. State leaders told the party top brass that the party should strengthen its base by winning over the hearts of the affected people in the recent communal riots in the state as there is a strong anti-government mood.
The meeting was convened by BJP chief Rajnath Singh and attended by party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, general secretary and incharge of the state Amit Shah, state unit chief Lakshmikant Bajpayee, Vinay Katiyar and general secretary Varun Gandhi along with senior leaders from the state unit. Mr Kalyan Singh and Ms Uma Bharti also attended the meeting.
The BJP chief termed the Muzaffarnagar clashes as “unfortunate” and blamed the Akhilesh Yadav government in the state for the riots. He said had the government acted in time, the situation would not have worsened and also charged the Centre with not taking effective steps to prevent the clashes from spreading.
The party is planning to finalise the list of candidates from the state by November.
Sources disclosed the party is hoping that if communal polarisation takes place it may bring some non-Jatav dalit and non-Yadav OBC votes to the party.
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