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Brajesh Pathak in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
A substantial number of MLAs and ministers affiliated with the BJP, especially from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, are set to converge on Madhya Pradesh, a state heading to the polls, over the next two months to oversee the party's election operations.
Nearly 15 MLAs and ministers from Uttar Pradesh have already been assigned responsibilities for various districts in the upcoming elections in the central Indian state, The New Indian Express reported.
Uttar Pradesh's Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak has been given the responsibility for the state capital, Bhopal, as per insider information.
Seven other ministers from Uttar Pradesh have also been designated for different districts, including Swantantra Dev Singh (Satna district), Baby Rani Maurya (Gwalior), Dinesh Pratap Singh (Raisen), Dayashankar Mishra ‘Dayalu’ (Datia district), Kapil Dev Aggarwal (Damoh), Anil Rajbhar (Seoni), and JPS Rathore (Bhopal division).
Swatantra Dev Singh, former UP BJP chief, was previously entrusted with the responsibility of winning three Congress strongholds that remained unconquered in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. His strategic approach and management played a pivotal role in securing victories in two unconquered Lok Sabha strongholds, namely Jyotiraditya Scindia’s Guna seat and Kantilal Bhuria’s Ratlam-Jhabua seat in the 2019 LS polls.
According to a senior organisational leader of MP BJP, the central BJP has deployed 57 ministers and MLAs, particularly from Gujarat, Maharashtra, and UP, to MP for the next two months, while the state's own leaders will be occupied in the electoral battleground.
The initiative of involving BJP leaders and workers from other states in the MP polls was initiated back in June. Approximately 3,000 exemplary booth-level workers from various Lok Sabha constituencies were addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bhopal on 27 June.
They subsequently spent a week gaining insights into MP. A few weeks later, BJP MLAs from various states were assigned the task of interacting with BJP workers and the public in the state.