Getting ready for the 2024 elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has set an eye on the seats it lost in the last Lok Sabha polls and has entrusted the job to Union ministers by making them in-charges of these constituencies.
In 2019, the BJP had won 64 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. Bahujan Samaj Party had won 10 seats, Samajwadi Party 5 and Congress one. But with the victory of BJP in the recently held Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha by-elections, the BJP’s tally has gone up to 66 while SP’s strength in the lower House has come down to three.
After the victory of the ruling party in the by-elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had claimed that BJP would win all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP in the 2024 elections.
“To ensure that BJP gets all seats, Union ministers have been roped in and they have been given responsibility for the constituencies the party had lost in the last elections,” a senior BJP leader told this reporter here on Wednesday.
He said the Union ministers would prepare the ground for victory of the party on the 14 seats the BJP lost and were with SP, BSP and Congress.
Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav has been given the responsibility of Saharanpur, Nagina and Bijnor, while Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been made in-charge of Rae Bareli, Shravasti, Ambedkar Nagar, and Mau.
Congress acting president Sonia Gandhi is MP from Rae Bareli.
Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh has been given the responsibility of Moradabad, Amroha, Sambhal, Mainpuri and while Union Education Minister Annapurna Devi has been made in-charge for Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Lalganj parliamentary constituencies.
All these ministers will stay in their respective regions for three days in the first phase and will have interaction with the leaders and ground level party workers. They will try to understand the reason for the party’s defeat and build an atmosphere in favour of the BJP there.
The incharges will brief party leaders and suggest steps that will help the party to win elections from these constituencies.