BJP gearing up for Assembly polls in UP

Pramod Kumar

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started full-fledged preparations for the coming Assembly polls in the state to be held next year, said the newly elected State BJP president Shri Kalraj Mishra. Talking to Organiser in New Delhi he pointed out that his first priority is to revive the organisation that bacome inactive following certain unfortunate incidents in the past and to develop self-confidence in the cadre. He made it clear that there would be no major change in the party policies in the State under his leadership. In order to revive the organisation and to energise the party rank and file, Shri Mishra announced a campaign—Chalo gaon ki or by the party cadre including party MPs and MLAs. The campaign aims to "check" on the state of development of farmers as well as villages.

"Our main purpose is to find out whether the State Government's programmes have actually been implemented. Ministers will join the party workers in the campaign," he said pointing out that the first phase of the campaign will begin on September 25. "I will myself lead a padyatra from Nangla Chandrabhan (Mathura), the birthplace of Pt. Deendayal Upadhayaya on his birth anniversary on September 25, that after covering 32 districts of the State will conclude at Ramnagar (Varanasi), the birthplace of former Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri on his birthday on October 2", he said. The party has planned to touch at least every assembly segment of the State through padyatras. There will be a mammoth rally in Varanasi in which State Chief Minster, Shri Ram Prakash Gupta, Union Minister of Surface Transport, Shri Rajnath Singh, Minister of Irrigation, Shri Om Prakash Singh and the newly nominated General Secretary of BJP Shri Sunil Shastry will participate.

Admitting that the party organisation had become weak in certain areas following several developments in the past, he clarified that with the exit of these elements from the party they were sure of a revival. "The past will not be repeated. We will definitely fare better than last time. You should not forget that we have a cadre at the village level who had become just inactive and we only need to rejuvenate it which we are aiming to do now." The UP BJP chief admitted that the uncertainty about the Chief Minister's continuance had hit the party's image. "It is unfortunate that such reports continue to be printed about our Chief Minister. The BJP will go to the next polls under Shri Gupta's leadership," Shri Mishra said adding that the party now intend to end the ineptness among the cadres by galvanising them to fan out among villagers."

About the Ram temple Shri Mishra made it clear that the party had not given it up but had kept it aside as it was not part of the agenda of the NDA, which won the people's mandate in the last Lok Sabha polls. Asked if the issue would be revived again, he said, "The public will decide on this question. Since we did not go to the polls on this issue, we are not talking about it." The new party chief ruled out the possibility of an electoral alliance with any other political party in the State except the present alliance partners that are participating in the government. He refused to say whether the party was thinking of having an electoral understanding with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). About the happenings in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Shri Mishra said the party wanted a ban on the anti-national activity of the Student's Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). He clarified that there was no difference between him and the Chief Minister Shri Gupta on the issue of banning the SIMI. On the students' charge that the State administration was targeting them because they were Muslims, he said, "It is not a question of the people being from this community or that. If anybody is found acting against the interest of the country he cannot be tolerated."