Modi to begin UP election rally from Monday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally to be held on Monday will officially set the tone for BJP's aggressive poll campaign for the state.
Modi to begin UP election rally from Monday

ALLAHABAD: Uttar Pradesh elections scheduled early next year weighs heavy on the BJP's national executive meeting scheduled to begin on Sunday. With mission 265+ slogan plastered in all the posters in the Kumbh city, known for confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and mythical river Saraswati.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally to be held on Monday will officially set the tone for BJP's aggressive poll campaign for the state.

Senior members of the Union Cabinet, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and members of Parliament will take part in the meet, which will adopt resolutions on Modi government achievements, diplomatic successes and economic development, source said.

Allahabad has been the state's political epicentre and the place where stalwarts ranging from Jawaharlal Nehru to VP Singh have learnt their ropes. And a party meeting organised here will certainly have a catalytic effect on our efforts to bring about political change in Uttar Pradesh," says BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh.

BJP is pitching its work through larger than life posters and cutouts of Modi, Shah and other leaders. Interestingly, Sultanpur MP Varun Gandhi is also making a show of strength as number of his posters are visible in the city with the BJP's slogan for the state elections. Na gundagardi, na bhrastachar, ab ki baar BJP Sarkar (no crime, no corruption, this time bjp government) is prominently carried slogan, as BJP aims to win 265 out of the 403 seats in state assembly.

While, there is a strong demand for making some kind of announcement on UP's CM face or campaign committee chief, but BJP leaders tried to play it down saying such decisions are not taken in national executive but Party's highest decision making body, the parliamentary board.

"The meeting will definitely address the issue of the 'goonda raj' unleashed by the ruling Samajwadi Party in the state, which had its worst manifestation in the recent violence at Mathura where land-grabbers enjoying political patronage killed two valiant police officials," BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said.

The BJP at present has less than 50 MLAs in a 403-member house, a massive decline since the 1990s when it used to be the top political group in the state. The party is looking at carrying forward the massive mandate it received during the 2014 LOk Sabha elections when it won unprecedented 71 out of the 80 seats.

The meeting will start with national office-bearers of the party on Sunday morning, while the formal beginning will be at 5 pm when PM Narendra Modi would also be in attendance.

The  meeting was likely to witness extensive discussions on the party's strategy for "states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa" where Assembly elections are due in less than a year away.

The BJP has inducted Himanta Biswa Sarma, who defected from Congress to BJP and played a key role in its big Assam win, and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, into its National Executive, a day before it meets for a two-day session in Allahabad.

Former Odisha Chief Minister and tribal leader Giridhar Gamang and former union minister K P Singh Deo, have also inducted into the National Executive, apart from  several of its former state unit chiefs, including Laxmikant Bajpai of Uttar Pradesh, Prahlad Joshi of Karnataka, Muraleedharan of Kerala, Kamal Sharma of Punjab and Chaoba Singh of Manipur.

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