Shah, Mistri to tour UP

The first round of battle for two Gujrati leaders to set their Houses in order in one of biggest state of the country will start this month with both drawing plan to target Eastern UP.
State in charge of BJP, Amit Shah will reach Ayodhya on Saturday to hold a meeting with workers of Awadh Region, Congress state in-charge Madhusudan Mistri, also from Gujarat, like his BJP counterpart would also be in the twin cities of Faizabad and Ayodhya to inaugurate the zonal office there on July 10.  The visit of the leaders would certainly spark a new political battle in the state in the run for the 2014 lok Sabha elections with Ayodhya factor to hog the limelight.

State BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said here on Friday That Shah's meeting at Karsevekpuram in Ayodhya would draw a plan for setting up booth level committees and interact with around 150 senior leaders of the region. During his visit Shah, a close confidant of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is all set to have a 'darshan' of Ram lala at the disputed area in Ayodhya besides visiting Hanumangarhi.''

On July 7, the BJP leader will move Gorakhpur to attend a similar meeting with the party leaders,''Pathak said. The meeting at Ayodhya is part of Shah's plan to meet BJP workers in each region, but the venue suggests the party's effort to keep Ram temple alive on the poll agenda. Earlier, Shah held a meeting with workers of the western region in Meerut on July 2. Congress General Secretary and UP in-charge Madhusudan Mistri will be in the state from July 9 to 14 to open zonal offices and interact with the party workers. However, like his own state's compatriot , Mistri will start his campaign from the twin city of Faizabad and Ayodhya on July 10 but it is not yet confirmed whether the Congress leaders would visit Ram lala and other religious places in Ayodhya during his.

 State Congress president Nirmal Khatri, who would accompany Mistri, is the local lok Sabha member from Faizabad-Ayodhya. On July 9, Mistri will inaugurate the zonal office in lucknow situated at the state party headquarters and held meeting with senior Congressmen representing districts coming under Zone 8. On July 10 he will move to Faizabad on easter UP tour. According to UPCC spokesman,

Dwijendra Tripathi, Mistri would visit Gorakhpur on July 11 just like Shah and then at other places like Varanasi during his six-day stay in the state.   BJP and Congress are both focusing hard on UP, the state that sends 80, maximum number of MPs, to Parliament out of the total 543. While BJP plans to cash in on Narendra Modi's charisma and polarisation of vote bank following the latter's elevation as chairman of the party's campaigning committee, the Congress also fancies chances of  gaining ground in the  state through polarisation and getting the support of the Muslim voters. This time, Congress too  seems to be banking on polarisation to help them beat the Samajwadi Party in the State as the leaders believe only a national party can stop Modi. And what better place than Ayodhya to re-ignite politics of polarisation.