The elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the chairman of the BJP’s Election Campaign Committee viewed as his gradual projection of Prime Ministerial candidate, is all set to face the greatest challenge from Uttar Pradesh. The challenge to improve the lots of the BJP significantly in UP is equal to the task ahead of him in rest of India.
Nothing has been formally announced but it is expected that Modi will come up with some road map for the State which has 80 lok Sabha seats and played the vital role during the days when the NDA was in power under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime. Fully aware of the daunting task, the Gujarat Chief Minister has already activated himself by getting appointed his close aide and party national general secretary Amit Shah as the in-charge of the UP.
It has been nearly one month when Shah was nominated as in-charge of the State and it was announced that he would lead an agitation in Rampur district on May 27 but due to Maoist attack on the Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh, the proposed agitation was called off. Now party sources claim that Shah might visit the State capital in next week to take stock of the situation focused on the preparedness of the lok Sabha elections.
The worrying factor before the BJP in the State is that it failed to move even an inch forward in the last two lok Sabha elections. It could muster only 10 seats in 2004 and again stuck on same number in 2009. The BJP’s performance in 2007 and 2012 Assembly elections also remained same as it got 51 and 48 seats respectively. No ground level improvement has become visible despite several experiments effected by the
leadership in last few years.
It is often being debated in the party rank and file that if Narendra Modi decides to contest the lok Sabha elections from UP, then will it reverse the fortunes of the party.
Many seats including the lucknow once represented by Atal Bihari Vajpayee is being counted as the launching pad for Modi’s inning in Central politics. “All will depend on the advice of Amit Shah who will assess the pros and cons of Modi’s candidature from UP in the lok Sabha elections,” said a State BJP leader.
Many in party believe that Modi is not only capable of polarising the election but even can cash on his image of a champion of developmental politics. “The biggest advantage which the BJP might draw from projecting Modi as its future leader is to galvanise the votes of most backward castes as Modi hails from it. We need to project Modi also as a backward leader,” said another State party leader.
However, it is being eagerly awaited that what sort of magic stick Modi would display in coming days so that the party can get back its lost glory in the State which enabled it to occupy the power at the Centre in the past.