Following BJP president Amit Shah’s meetings with party Vistaraks and RSS workers in Mirzapur on Wednesday to fathom the ground reality, indications are that around 50 party MPs may be denied party tickets for the 2019 general elections as their performance was found to be unsatisfactory.
Shah is on mission to get feedback from workers about the performance of MPs and MlAs, a senior BJP leader told The Pioneer. “However, the feedback has not been encouraging. Indications are that the party may not repeat around 50 MPs, and instead try new faces in the next lok Sabha elections,” he said.
In 2014 lok Sabha election, the BJP won 71 out of 80 seats in UP and its ally Apna Dal bagged two seats. But in the subsequent lok Sabha bypolls, the party lost all three and its strength came down to 68 in the State.
Shah made the MPs and MlAs wait outside the meeting hall as he conferred with Vistaraks and RSS workers on Wednesday. And when he finally met these MPs from Gorakhpur, Kashi and Awadh regions, it was a brief affair. The BJP president reportedly made it clear that “performance of many of the MPs is poor”.
“The BJP president was visibly angry over the ground report he received from Vistaraks. This was the reason he made the MPs wait outside the meeting hall,” BJP source told this reporter.
One of the reports presented in Mirzapur said that MPs were ignorant about policies of the Modi Government. It further said many of them did not participate in “Gram Chaupal” and some who attended it, did not stay for the night as directed by the party.
Shah was also told that many lawmakers did not take part in voters’ list verification campaign that the party had taken up last month.
Of late, the BJP has initiated a series of programmes where leaders, MPs, and MlAs were asked to visit villages. The Vistaraks were asked to prepare reports on leaders attending such meets. These reports were regularly evaluated in party meetings.
The BJP boss expressed the same disapproval of the performance of the MPs from Kanpur-Bundelkhand, Braj and West UP when he met them in Agra on Thursday.
Sources said reports from Vistaraks about performance of the MPs would form the basis of selection of candidates for the next lok Sabha elections.
Vistaraks are unknown faces of the party, who work at grassroots along with RSS workers. “These Vistaraks played an instrumental role in the party’s victory in 2017 Assembly elections and their reports would matter for the 2019 polls too,” he said.