Five-Point Strategy Of BJP In Uttar Pradesh For 2024 Lok Sabha Elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has devised a mission to secure victory in all 80 Lok Sabha (LS) seats from Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the upcoming 2024 elections.

To succeed in its plan, the special focus is on those seats, where it lost in the 2019 elections.

Of the 80 LS seats of UP, the BJP won 62 in 2019. Its tally came down by nine from the 2014 elections but still, the party's performance was much better than what pollsters had predicted.

For the 2024 elections, the responsibility for Lalganj, Ambedkar Nagar, Shravasti and Rae Bareli is on Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, while Annapurna Devi is looking over Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Ghosi seats.

Jitendra Singh has been given the charge of Mainpuri, Sambhal, Moradabad and Amroha, while Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will be looking over Saharanpur, Nagina and Bijnor seats, according to Amit Yadav.

Notably, the BJP lost all seats in Moradabad division (Moradabad, Amroha, Sambhal, Amroha, Bijnor, Nagina and Rampur) in the 2019 elections and hence it needs a strong strategy for this Jat-Muslim-Dalit majority region.

Another strategy that the party is devising is to induct those leaders from other opposition parties who hold a significant influence.

Three Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders and one Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader joined BJP today. Former Minister Sahab Singh Saini, who is considered a prominent backward leader, is among them.

Former MLAs In Jaunpur districts, Kurmi leader Sushma Patel from Mungra Badshahpur and Jagdish Sonkar from Machhlishahar too joined BJP with RLD leader Rajpal Singh Saini who is a former BSP MLA and Rajya Sabha MP.

Sonkar was elected as an MLA four times consecutively (2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017) but the SP didn't give him in the 2022 assembly elections. Now he is a prominent contender for the Machhlishahar LS ticket after joining BJP.

Similarly, another SP leader Dara Singh Chouhan, who made a comeback to the BJP, can contest from Ghosi, from where he was elected as an MP on the BSP ticket in the 2009 election and MLA on the SP ticket in the 2022 assembly elections.

Efforts are also being made to bring back leaders who had left the party before the assembly elections. Chauhan is one such example as he served as a minister in the Yogi 1.0 government.

Former MLAs and former SP leaders Sinod Shakya and Hemraj Verma can get a BJP ticket for LS elections from Badaun and Pilibhit respectively. Both joined the party ahead of the panchayat elections.

Siddhraj Singh, who joined the BJP ahead of the 2022 assembly elections, can get a ticket from Aonla against SP's Swami Praasad Maurya. He is the son of Kunwar Sarvraj Singh who represented Aonla thrice in LS on SP and JD(U) tickets.

The third strategy of the BJP is to leverage its already strong position in UP by utilising the state government leaders. It is expected that some state cabinet ministers and many MLAs in the UP government can contest LS polls.

Jitin Prasada can be the BJP candidate at Dhaurahra and Rakesh Sachan can contest from Kanpur. Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak can be a good option for the BJP face at Unnao.

Former Minister of State RPN Singh can contest from Kushinagar, while Balia ticket can be given to Neeraj Shekhar, Amit Yadav speculated in a tweet thread.

The fourth strategy is to keep an adequate balance of all castes and communities. In order to achieve this, it is forming alliances with smaller parties that represent a particular caste, along with bringing in the caste leaders.

Alliances with Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Sanjay Nishad-led NISHAD party and Anupriya Patel-led Apna Dal (Soneylal) are a part of this strategy.

Moreover, other smaller parties like Sanjay Chauhan led-Janwadi Party (Socialist), Keshav Dev Maurya-led Mahan Dal and Premchand Bind-led Pragatisheel Manav Samaj Party can also join NDA in near future.

The organisational overhaul is also expected in UP BJP. State party president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary has signaled a huge change in district party presidents.

Chaudhary's strategy focuses on introducing new faces to the party and his team, holding meetings on all fronts, and reviewing the party's mass contact campaign.

Meanwhile, the party's General Secretary (Organisation) in the state, Dharampal Singh is focused on establishing a strong connection between party workers and voters. He is even staying overnight at their houses to strengthen this bond.

These strategies are expected to capitalise on the success of the recently concluded Municipal Elections in the state, where the BJP won all 17 mayoral seats.

The party has set up a war room to implement these strategies and is providing daily progress reports to Chaudhary and Singh. "Booth reviews are going on," Har Govind Dubey, a BJP worker from Basti told Swarajya.