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BJP will roll out six yatras to assess public mood in UP
Party’s Dalit MLC Vidya Sagar Sonkar will coordinate these yatras that will possibly start from six places from each of the six organisational regions and culminate in Lucknow
LUCKNOW The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to take out six yatras across all the 403 assembly segments of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh (UP), chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced at a party meeting on Tuesday.
The party had also taken out these yatras prior the 2017 UP polls, said top leaders who attended the meeting. The party’s UP election panel head and education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and information & broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur, a key member of the panel, were present on the occasion.
“At that time, the yatra was to expose the previous government. But this yatra would be to tell the cadres about our achievements and to seek people’s blessings,” said Adityanath at the UP BJP headquarters in Lucknow.
BJP’s Dalit MLC Vidya Sagar Sonkar will coordinate these yatras that will possibly start from six places from each of the six organisational regions and culminate in Lucknow with a rally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Leaders who would lead these yatras are yet to be decided but the motorised chariots would have cutouts of Modi and Yogi for sure. Prominent leaders will make speeches at various yatra stopovers,” a party leader said.
Two deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma were also present during the brainstorming session. A section of BJP leaders believes they could contest these elections along with chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
The RSS would be involved in galvanizing the masses for these yatras, which would also focus on 78 seats BJP or allies failed to win in 2017 UP polls, as well as areas and constituencies where the ruling party might be feeling the heat of anti-incumbency more.
“These yatras, which would precede the ticket distribution, would also help the party assess the public mood,” a party leader said. To beat anti-incumbency, the BJP is expected to change sitting lawmakers in various assembly segments and these journeys would help the “party generate local feedback about the lawmaker and their likely replacements.”
The yatras would be supplemented with innovative catch lines. “Like in Baghpat Anurag Thakur ji coined one such line. He said: “Pehle Samajwadi Party dange karatey thaiy, bhajapa dangal karati hai (earlier there were riots in SP time, now wrestling matches are held in BJP days).”
A BJP leader pointed out that the yatras would specially focus on opposition bastions like Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as well as Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha constituency of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
“The nitty gritties are yet to be finalised but our allies could also be part of these yatras,” said a BJP leader.
SHAH TO ADDRESS BOOTH PRESIDENTS
Union home minister Amit Shah would address booth presidents in Saharanpur on December 2. BJP chief JP Nadda and defence minister Rajnath Singh have already addressed similar booth meetings in Gorakhpur, Kanpur (where Nadda addressed), Sitapur and Jaunpur (where Rajnath addressed), said party leaders.
“We welcome these yatras as they would help the BJP and its leaders realise the people’s sentiments, rampant corruption at the local level and growing resentment against price rise among other things. We hope these yatras travel through regions like Hathras, Lakhimpur Kheri where unspeakable atrocities were heaped on the poor, dalits and farmers by the ruling party and its insensitive leaders. We hope these yatras travel through those ghats where people, after not getting even wood for last rites, started burying the dead in sand during the Covid surge,” said Zishan Haider, Congress spokesman.
“These days all political parties are resorting to yatras. Through these journeys, they are able to connect with the masses better and possibly all gather crucial feedback ahead of the polls. BJP is no stranger to yatras,” said Prof Manuka Khanna of political science department of Lucknow University.
