Rajnath Singh might be BJP face in UP

The Bharatiya Janata Party Party (BJP), that is hard up for choices for a chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh, may finally end up projecting Union home minister Rajnath Singh as its face in the state Assembly elections, due early next year.

According to highly-placed sources, the party leadership is seriously contemplating projecting Mr Singh as its chief ministerial candidate in UP though the latter is believed to be reluctant to return to state politics.

Most of the chief ministerial candidates in the BJP, at present, are either too controversial or lack a pan-UP acceptance.

Mr Singh has a clean image and has already proved his administrative capabilities during his regime as chief minister in UP. Besides, he can woo farmer and Thakur votes with ease. He can also woo dalits because he was the one who mooted the idea of reservation within reservation for Most Backward Castes in 2001.

The BJP has already decided to hold six big rallies in Uttar Pradesh soon as a warm-up exercise for the Assembly elections.

The public rallies would be held at Mau, Allahabad, Lucknow, Moradabad and Kanpur and the sixth destination is yet to be decided. The rallies will be addressed by the BJP national president Amit Shah and Mr Singh.

Mr Singh, in particular, will explain the various schemes launched for the benefit of farmers by the centre and will showcase the achievements of the Modi government in the rallies.

The rallies will be once a month and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address one rally in UP every two months till the Assembly polls.

“No final decision has yet been taken but there is a consensus on Mr Rajnath Singh. We need someone who can carry all sections of the society together and is non-controversial. Mr Singh fits the bills and he is also the tallest party leader in UP at the moment,” said a senior party functionary.

The leader said that the final decision on this will be taken after the on-going assembly elections in five states are over,

“Senior leaders will take a formal decision in this regard in consultation with Sangh leaders and then the strategy for the campaign will be decided”, he said.

The BJP, on one hand, is relentlessly wooing Dalits and at the same time, the party wants to retain its upper caste vote base by projecting an upper caste leader like Mr Singh.

State leaders in the party also feel that if Mr Rajnath Singh is projected as a chief ministerial candidate, the party would benefit from his image and performance.