The stage is set for the crucial three-phased Urban local Bodies poll in the state and the BJP will be hitting the campaign trail with gusto with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath leading from the front. Yogi Adityanath is likely to kickstart the capaigning from the temple town of Ayodhya on November 15. On t he other hand, presidents of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party seem to be wary of taking a direct plunge in electioneering for their respective candidates. This is for the first time in the past several decades that all major parties are contesting the UlB elections on their respective election symbols.
The decision by Yogi Adityanath to campaign for BJP’s mayoral candidates is unprecedented as in the past no Chief Minister has ever campaigned for candidates in civic elections.
While Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati have made it clear that they would not campaign in the civic elections, UP Congress chief Raj Babbar is likely to campaign for his party’s Mayoral candidates. Yogi is likely to launch campaigning from Ayodhya on November 15. This will be the first Mayoral election in Ayodhya-Faizabad, as the town along with Mathura-Vrindavan, were upgraded to a Municipal Corporation by the Yogi government. The CM is expected to address 16 election meetings, one each in 16 municipal corporations for his party’s Mayoral candidates. The party has also directed senior ministers to ensure victory in all 16 municipal corporations. Industries minister Satish Mahana has been given the responsibility of Ayodhya, Urban Development minister Suresh Kumar Khanna is in-charge of Varanasi - the lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Health minister Siddharth Nath Singh will be looking after Meerut.
Defending the party’s decision to deploy senior ministers for spearheading the UlB poll campaigning, state BJP general secretary and in-charge of Meerut, Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that it was a ‘return gift’ to party workers by senior leaders. “During lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, party workers dedicated themselves to ensure comfortable victories of the candidates. Now senior leaders will do the same for the workers. It is a return gift to them,” Pathak said. The BJP leader pointed out that the Chief Minister, state party chief Mahendra Nath Pandey and all senior leaders will put in their efforts to ensure victory for party candidates. “The elections are being held for 652 local bodies, covering over 12,000 wards. It is a big election and every leader and worker would put their 100 per cent to ensure maximum win,” the BJP leader added. Meanwhile, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said that there was no precedence of party presidents campaigning in UlB elections. “The BJP is setting a wrong precedent and it will boomerang on them,” he said.
However another SP leader differed on the issue. “In the last 2012 poll, when we were in power, the party neither contested UlB poll on party symbol, nor leaders campaigned which was a political blunder. Had we contested the poll on party symbol, the situation would have been different this time,” the leader said. Congress spokesperson Virendra Madan said the party was yet to plan the campaigning program. He however confirmed that UPCC chief Raj Babbar would campaign for Mayoral candidates. The BSP has already announced that Mayawati would not campaign in UlB poll despite the party contesting on its symbol for the first time.