Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now address one rally every month in Uttar Pradesh till the next general elections.
The BJP believes that a rally a month will not only water down the anti-incumbency factor, but will also force all party cadres to close their ranks and work unitedly for the elections.
According to party sources, the Prime Minister will be addressing a rally in Azamgarh in July. Azamgarh is the parliamentary constituency of Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and the BJP hopes to wrest the seat from the Samajwadi patriarch who has announced that he will be contesting from Mainpuri in 2019.
During his Azamgarh rally, PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone of Purvanchal Expressway that is being touted as the lifeline of eastern Uttar Pradesh.
In August, the Prime Minister is likely to address a rally in Siddhartha Nagar but the programme is yet to be finalised. In each rally, people from 8 to 10 districts will participate and then spread the Prime Minister’s message across.
Though the RSS has handed over the responsibility of Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the BJP still does not wish to take chances and wants the Prime Minister to lead the campaign like he did in 2014. “Uttar Pradesh is extremely crucial for us. We had won 73 seats (71+2 allies) in 2014 and we are looking to improving our tally in 2019. However, the coming together of SP and BSP could take a toll on our plans but we will continue to make efforts to dilute the impact of the alliance”, said a senior BJP functionary.
Party sources said, that from August, all UP ministers will visit constituencies other than their own and take a feedback about the mood of the voters so that the irritants can be removed. Legislators belonging to constituencies where the feedback is negative will be asked to improve their relations and start a campaign to improve their relations with their voters. “There is nothing new in this because since 204, the party has been in an election mode—whether it is through the millennium voters’ programme or through ‘vistaraks’. The party keeps in touch with the voters and remains responsive to ground realities. It is this that makes BJP a party with a difference”, said BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak.
