In a bid to ensure better coordination and improve its fortunes in the remaining four phases of polls in politically crucial UP, mainly in western UP and Bundelkhand region, the BJP has shifted its war room from Lucknow to Meerut and Agra.
The party is now focusing on these two regions as it is confident of improving its numbers this time as compared to the last Assembly elections. While the saffron party had won 14 Assembly seats in western UP, including Agra, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur and Bareilly, it is hopeful that this time it will open its account in the Bundelkhand region which has 19 Assembly seats.
Senior BJP leader and saffron sanyasin Uma Bharti is also contesting from Charkhari Assembly seat in the Bundelkhand region. The region also has a considerable number of OBC population and because of this BJP has fielded most of the OBC candidates from here, including Ms Bharti and former BSP leader Badshah Singh.
The party is also banking on scam tainted former UP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, an OBC, who is holding rallies and public gatherings in both the regions, highlighting the “votebank politics and minorities appeasement agenda” of Congress and Samajwadi Party. The BJP had to put Mr Kushwaha’s membership on hold after it faced severe criticism over his induction from both within and outside the party. Not only Mr Kushwaha, all the BJP leaders, while campaigning, have been highlighting how the Congress-led Centre has “cheated” OBCs by offering 4.5 per cent sub-quota for minorities from within 27 per cent quota for the OBCs. The party is hoping that it will benefit from the “retaliatory” voting from the community.
The BJP is also of the view that it will benefit in western UP, from where it currently has 4 MPs and had a “significant” vote bank.