With speculation rife about 50 per cent of incumbent lok Sabha members being denied ticket in the State for 2019 lok Sabha poll, the BJP has geared up to strengthen itself in the State after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Maghar in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP chief Amit Shah will arrive for a two-day visit to the State next week. On July 4, he is scheduled to hold a day-long meeting with ‘vistarak’ (grassroots level workers) of eastern and central UP in Mirzapur.
While Shah is expected to visit Varanasi the same day, he is scheduled to be at Agra on July 5 for a similar meeting with ‘vistarak’ from the rest of the state.
The BJP president will be accompanied by his close confidante and senior leader Bhupendra Yadav, who is set to take over as in-charge of UP from present incumbent and Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan, Om Mathur.
Sources in the BJP said that Shah will meet ‘vistaraks’ who visited booths to assess the party’s base during the last six months. Shah will also deliberate on findings of a survey carried out by the party in all 80 lok Sabha seats of UP.
Sources said that the idea behind Shah’s meetings was to keep the cadre active and resolve differences by taking feedback.
BJP ally Apna Dal leader and Union minister and local MP Anupriya Patel would be part of the meeting in Mirzapur.
The presence of Apna Dal, which has a strong base among Patels in select areas of east UP, is significant as the other ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party leader Om Prakash Rajbhar constantly showing dissent.
“UP is clearly the focus and there are no doubts about it. In future, you would notice growing presence of BJP leaders in some region or the other in the state. The idea is to keep the cadre warmed up with BJP chief personally holding regional meetings. It should not be a surprise to see Modi visit the state at least once a month,” said a State BJP leader.
With around eight months left for 2019 lok Sabha polls, the BJP is scrutinizing its candidates so that they could be given six months time to campaign in their constituencies.
Earlier, it was reported at the national level that around 50 per cent of BJP MPs could be denied tickets due to anti-incumbency against them.
The proposed reshuffle of the Yogi cabinet and other changes in the state BJP organisation is also likely to be done after the visit of Shah.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey would be present with Shah during the meetings in UP.
State BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak confirmed on Saturday about Shah’s two- day visit to UP. He said that Shah would meet leaders and vistaraks of Awadh, Gorakhpur and Kashi prants at Mirzapur on July 4 while the next day, he will do the same in Agra where leaders and vistaraks from Kanpur-Bundelkhand, west UP and Braj would participate,” he said.