LUCKNOW: Upbeat after the twin bypoll victories in Rampur and Azamgarh, the BJP has set its eyes on the Congress bastion of Rae Bareli and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s fortress, Mainpuri.
While Rae Bareli, represented in Lok Sabha by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, is the only seat occupied by the party in UP, Mainpuri is represented by Mulayam.
In a meeting here on Wednesday, BJP leaders from UP and Delhi got together with district in-charges, district coordinators and Assembly segment coordinators to devise a strategy to win the 14 Lok Sabha seats currently held by the Opposition.
Of the 14, BSP has 10, SP has three, and Congress has one.
According to sources, BJP has decided to hand over the command of the 14 ‘precious’ seats to four Union ministers Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Science and Technology (independent charge) Dr Jitendra Singh, and Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi.
Sources said party’s Rajya Sabha member Naresh Bansal, who arrived from Delhi for the meeting, urged the cadre to keep focus on those 12 seats.
State organisational secretary Sunil Bansal is believed to have told the party leaders that coordinators to the Assembly segments falling under the Opposition-held Lok Sabha seats have been appointed.
“The party is also chalking out other steps to ensure victory on those seats in 2024,” said a senior BJP leader.
Ministers in charge
As per sources, BJP has decided to hand over the command of the 14 seats to four Union ministers — Ashwini Vaishnav, Narendra Singh Tomar, Dr Jitendra Singh and Annapurna Devi.