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BJP to hold six yatras across UP ahead of 2022 polls
The party has taken out similar electioneering journeys ahead of the 2017 state elections as well, CM Yogi Adityanath said in a meeting attended by top leaders such as Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur, key members of the party’s election panel for the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will roll out six yatras in Uttar Pradesh that will pass through all 403 assembly constituencies in India’s most populous state that goes to the polls early next year, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said at a party meeting on Tuesday.
The party has taken out similar electioneering journeys ahead of the 2017 state elections as well, Adityanath said in the meeting attended by top leaders such as Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur, key members of the party’s election panel for the state.
“The difference is that 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,” Adityanath said at party headquarters in Lucknow.
The yatras will be co-ordinated by Vidya Sagar Sonkar, a Dalit leader of the party. They will likely start from six different places from each of the six organisational regions and end at 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 cut outs of Modi and Yogi for sure,” a BJP leader said on condition of anonymity. “Prominent leaders will make speeches at various yatra stopovers.”
Deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma were also present during Tuesday’s brainstorming session.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, ideological parent of the BJP, will be involved in galvanizing the masses for these yatras that would also focus on the 78 seats BJP or its allies failed to win in 2017 polls, as well as areas and constituencies where the ruling party might be feeling the heat of anti-incumbency.
“These yatras that would precede ticket distribution would also help the party assess the popular mood,” another party leader said. To beat anti-incumbency, the BJP is expected to change sitting lawmakers in various assembly seats and these journeys would help the “party generate local feedback about the lawmaker and their likely replacements,” he said.
The yatras will especially focus on opposition bastions like Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as well as Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha constituency of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. “The nitty grrities are yet to be finalized, but our allies could also be part of these yatras,” a third BJP leader said.
In another development, Union home minister Amit Shah will address booth workers in Saharanpur on December 2. BJP chief JP Nadda and defence minister Rajnath Singh have already addressed similar meetings in Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Sitapur and Jaunpur.
The yatras may help the BJP realize the difficulties people are facing because of their government’s schemes, opposition parties said.
“We welcome these yatras as they would help the BJP and its leaders realise the people’s sentiment, rampant corruption at the local level and growing resentment against price rise, among other things,” Congress spokesman Zishan Haider said. “We hope that these yatras travel through regions like Hathras, in Lakhimpur Kheri where unspeakable atrocities were heaped on the poor, Dalits and farmers by the ruling party and its insensitive leaders.”
“These days all political parties are resorting to yatras. I think through these journeys they are able to connect with the masses better and possibly gather crucial feedback ahead of polls,” said Manuka Khanna, a professor of political science at Lucknow University. “BJP is no stranger to yatras.”
