LUCKNOW: Unwilling to take its political opponents for granted, the BJP plans to devise poll strategies on a seat to seat basis for the upcoming Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections due later this year.
BJP sources said that the party plans to appoint in charge at the ward level -- a move that underpins saffron outfit's deft plans of taking municipal poll battle to the grass root. Sources said that the party sought to gain a psychological advantage over its rivals by winning the ULB polls which are being perceived as a semi-final before the high stake 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking to TOI, UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary affirmed that the party won't gloss over the political strength of the opposition and will frame up its organisational structure at the ground level. He acknowledged that while SP emerged as the key opponent in the recently held state elections, it was Mayawati's BSP which nudged the saffron pantheon by winning Aligarh and Meerut in 2017 ULB polls.
Not surprisingly, the BJP is learnt to have sharpened its focus on Aligarh and Meerut, the two west UP districts which have substantial populations of Muslims and Dalits. In the last ULB polls, Aligarh remained an unreserved seat, Meerut was reserved for SC-woman. While Aligarh was won by BSP's Mohammad Furqan, Sunita Verma won from Meerut.
The Aligarh municipal corporation area comprises two assembly seats -- Aligarh Sadar and Koil which were, interestingly, won by the BJP in 2017 as well as in 2022. The SP has been winning the Meerut sadar seat in 2017 as well in 2022 assembly polls.
In fact, SP candidates were on the second spot in both the assembly seats. Yet it was won by BSP's mayoral candidate Mohammad Furqan. Likewise in the case of Meerut, the municipal corporation area comprises three assembly seats -- Meerut, Meerut cantt and Meerut South. Of these Meerut Cantt and Meerut South were won by BJP in 2017 as well in 2022 assembly elections. Significantly, BSP was the runner up on the two seats in 2017. The Mayawati party however faded away completely in all three seats in the 2022 assembly polls.
Stressing that his party was "battle ready" for municipal elections, Chaudhary claimed that the BJP would win Aligarh and Meerut this time. UP BJP chief observation assumes significance even as the party appoints various senior ministers, including both the deputy CMs, as in charge of various municipal corporations.
The BJP has entrusted campaigning responsibilities to several ministers and organisational leaders. While deputy chief ministers Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya have been given charge of Agra and Varanasi, respectively, former minister Mahendra Singh will oversee the campaign in Ghaziabad. Likewise, BJP state vice-president Pankaj Singh will look after Meerut. The other ministers and leaders who have been deployed in different districts include Aseem Arun (Saharanpur), Purushottam Khandelwal (Moradabad), Ram Naresh Agnihotri (Mathura-Vrindavan), Dharmapal Singh (Firozabad), Jaiveer Singh (Aligarh), Jitin Prasada (Prayagraj), Kapil Dev Agarwal (Shahjahanpur), Lakshmi Naryan Chaudhary (Bareilly), Swatantra Dev Singh (Kanpur), Baby Rani Maurya (Jhansi), Suresh Khanna (Lucknow), Surya Pratap Shahi (Ayodhya) and Arun Saxena (Gorakhpur).
