Mission 265-plus: BJP's national executive meet to fine tune UP poll strategy

The two-day BJP national executive meet in Allahabad began around 4 pm on Sunday with the agenda to kick off the party’s campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Besides projecting pro-farmer schemes, the central government’s “good governance” will be pitted against the “misgovernance” of the Samajwadi Party. BJP’s Anurag Thakur said, “When people face insecurity and employment becomes a challenge, BJP stands a chance in Uttar Pradesh.” The party’s national office-bearers met Sunday morning to set the agenda for the evening meeting, party sources said. Several senior members of the Union Cabinet and chief ministers of all the BJP ruled states are likely to take part in the national executive meeting. [caption id=“attachment_2829930” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Amit Shah will deliver the inaugural address at around 5 pm on Sunday. At the meeting, party leaders are expected to formulate their strategy for the next round of assembly elections in several states, including the electorally important Uttar Pradesh, reported The Indian Express. “Allahabad has been the state’s political epicentre and the place where stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru, VP Singh have learnt their ropes. And a party meeting organised in Allahabad will certainly have a catalytic effect on our efforts to bring about political change in Uttar Pradesh,” said BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh. Allahabad is also fondly remembered as Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthplace. Historian S Irfan Habib said that Allahabad fits in the larger narrative of the “BJP as it is trying to write a new history, create new icons and dismantle old historical characters,” according to a CNN-News18 report. ‘Mission 265-plus’ will be the core issue of the meeting. It is a term given by BJP to bag the majority seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, which has 403 seats, according to NDTV. BJP’s parliamentary board is expected to decide on Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2017 UP polls, not the executive board, reported CNN-News18. It further reported that the party would conduct surveys across Uttar Pradesh before finalising its candidate, according to sources. Caste equations and the work done by Central government will form the basis of the survey. Times Now, however, quoted sources as saying that there will no chief ministerial face for the Uttar Pradesh elections. Some reports suggested that Modi and Shah offered the position of UP’s chief minister to Rajnath Singh. However, he was not very pleased with the offer and has not yet communicated his response. Sources close to Singh said that he wants to remain in national politics. Sources also pointed out that BJP had fared poorly in the last three assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh despite projecting a chief ministerial candidate – Rajnath Singh in 2002, Kalyan Singh in 2007 and Uma Bharti in 2012. The BJP executive meet is also expected to discuss the achievements of the Modi government and welfare initiatives like ‘Jan Dhan accounts’, LPG for poor households and cheap medical stores. The BJP leaders are also expected to use this platform to launch a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party government for poor governance and deteriorating law and order. “There is goonda raj in Uttar Pradesh under Akhilesh Yadav. The cocktail politics of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal have ruined the state,” BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma told IANS. “We will be giving a call to end this goonda raj,” he added. Meanwhile, Opposition parties are planning to protest against the BJP government at the Centre for failing to deliver on the promises made during the general elections. Aam Aadmi Party sought “permission” for staging a demonstration and waving black flags from a “safe distance” to protest PM Modi’s maiden visit. Several Congress workers were on Sunday detained while trying to enforce a city-wide ‘bandh’ in protest. Party workers, led by District Congress Committee members Haseeb Ahmed and Shrish Chand Dubey, had gathered at the Civil Lines crossing – barely a few hundred metres from the hotel where BJP president Amit Shah is holding a meeting of BJP national office bearers. They were immediately detained by police as they had assembled in violation of security restrictions in place, and taken to the Civil Lines police station. The agitators alleged that Modi’s two years in office have been characterised by tall claims and appealed to the people to observe the day as “Feku Diwas”. Almost all the streets and roundabouts in Allahabad are dotted with billboards or posters welcoming PM Modi and other leaders to the city. There are also a number of posters displaying the header ‘Mission 265-plus’. If not Rajnath Singh, there is no credible face that the BJP can project as the chief minister in Uttar Pradesh. There are some other names which the BJP and RSS have been discussing, including Varun Gandhi, Smriti Irani and Mahesh Sharma. Some of the posters demand that Varun Gandhi should be BJP’s chief ministerial candidate. He was dropped from the team of office bearers when Shah took over BJP’s leadership, according to NDTV. However, his name has resurfaced on a number of posters and hoardings this year. “Posters and hoardings don’t mean someone is a claimant for the CM (chief minister’s) post,” said party leader Siddharth Nath Singh, NDTV quoted him as saying. _Firstpost_'s Sanjay Singh wrote that though Feroze Varun Gandhi’s name figures in various pre-poll surveys, suggesting that he could be the most popular chief ministerial face in the BJP ahead of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, it is unlikely that the party leadership will make the chief ministerial candidate. “A chief ministerial candidate can never be somebody who shares adversarial relations or who does not enjoy the confidence of the top party leadership,” a party leader had said. A section of top leaders in Delhi and UP feel the Gandhi surname and Varun’s strident image are his positives. However, others feel his style of functioning may displease the old guard, according to the NDTV report.   After the drubbing in Bihar polls, where the BJP structured its campaign on the Modi wave, the party learnt its lesson and projected Sarbananda Sonowal as the chief ministerial candidate in Assam. The strategy definitely worked in favour of the party. It remains to be been if they will ride on the Modi wave in Uttar Pradesh or align their campaign on a local candidate. With inputs from agencies