BJP gears up to take UP poll war to Congress bastions

NEW DELHI: After Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s August 3 road show drew huge crowds in Varanasi, Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, the BJP is planning a similar

NEW DELHI: After Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s August 3 road show drew huge crowds in Varanasi, Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, the BJP is planning a similar event by PM Narendra Modi in the Nehru-Gandhi bastion of Amethi in October.

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“We need to be seen in the fight. Modi’s event there will lift cadre’s morale,” a BJP leader said. The party is looking at a road show or a public meeting.

Sonia’s son and Congress vicep-resident Rahul Gandhi is the Lok Sabha member from Amethi, a seat that has remained in the Gandhi family for decades. UP is due for elections in early 2017.

India’s most populous state was central to the BJP’s sweep in the 2014 elections, where it won 71 of 80 Lok Sabha seats. But the state election is a different ball game, fought on local issues with caste equations playing a huge role. Textiles minister Smriti Irani, then a rising star of the BJP, gave Rahul a tough fight in Amethi. Though Irani occasionally visits Amethi, the BJP has stayed away from the constituency. But, the Congress’ less than impressive showing in the Lok Sabha elections has the BJP believing that a few seats can be won in Amethi and neighbouring Rae Bareli, Sonia’s parliamentary constituency.

In the absence of a CM candidate, Modi remains the BJP’s face in UP, where the party is trying to expand its reach beyond its traditional support base of upper castes and some other backward classes. The BJP is looking at a Modi rally in Bundelkhand to launch Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojana.