Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met 40 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from Uttar Pradesh over breakfast in Delhi. BJP's national president JP Nadda and senior leaders from the organisation were also present at the meeting which took place at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, the official residence the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister, BJP MPs and other leaders discussed the party's strategy, organisational programme and poll campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections. Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous and politically crucial state, is slated to go to the polls early next year along with four other states -- Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. Barring Punjab, the BJP is in power in all four states.
Today's meeting comes days after PM Modi inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi, also his parliamentary constituency. During his visit to Varanasi, the PM had also chaired a meeting with 12 Chief Ministers from BJP-ruled states.
Notably, the saffron party in a big election push in Uttar Pradesh has announced to hold a series of yatras by end of December. The six yatras will cover all the 403 seats.
Last month, the party named party chief JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as in-charges of the six organisational units in Uttar Pradesh for better management for the polls. While Shah has been given Braj and Western regions, Rajnath SIngh has been assigned Kashi and Awadh which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi. Nadda has been given the responsibility of Kanpur and Gorakhpur. Gorakhpur is the home town of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who is also the head priest of the Gorakhnath temple.
In the previous Assembly elections held in 2017, the BJP had won a brute majority, pocketing 312 seats. Then ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) settled at 47 seats, 177 seats less than its 2012 tally. The Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) won just 19 and Congress secured only seven seats.
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