Ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Nitin Nabin, national BJP president, and BL Santosh, party’s national general secretary (organisation), will be on a two-day visit to Lucknow on July 3 and 4.
Both leaders are visiting the Uttar Pradesh capital after the announcement of the party’s new state executive last week. On his maiden visit to Lucknow, Nabin will hold meetings with the office-bearers of the party’s state unit, affiliated organisations, ministers, senior party leaders, CM Yogi Adityanath and the RSS leaders.
Their visit assumes importance as eight months remain before the UP assembly election. The stakes are high for the BJP after the below par performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh. The party looks to regain its lost ground and form the government for the third consecutive term.
According to party sources, both leaders will review preparations for the 2027 assembly election and gear up the party cadre for the crucial electoral battle. “The focus will be on the working of the organisation from the state level down to the grassroots level. The state unit has been directed to complete the constitution of committees at the booth level,” a BJP leader said.
Recently, the national BJP president visited election-bound Punjab and Uttarakhand to review the preparations for the assembly election there. He set the party’s strategy for the upcoming assembly election. The ball will be set rolling in Uttar Pradesh for the assembly election, like in Punjab and Uttarakhand after the national president’s visit, the BJP leader said.
After the rejig of the state organisation, Pankaj Chaudhary, UP BJP chief, and Dharampal, state general secretary (organisation), held a meeting with the newly appointed office-bearers to discuss the strategy for the UP polls.
“The focus will be on the assembly seats the BJP lost in the 2022 assembly election as well as the seats the party won by narrow margins. The party has decided to appoint in-charges for the seats it lost in the previous assembly election,” the BJP leader said.
To gear up the party cadre, CM Yogi Adityanath is visiting various districts across the state. Along with holding review meetings with local leaders, he is launching development projects to set the pitch for the assembly polls.
“The ministers who have been appointed in-charge of the various districts have been directed to camp in the districts and collect feedback from local leaders regarding the assembly election,” the BJP leader said.
The BJP national president is also finalising his new team of central office-bearers. The organisational reshuffle is expected to be announced soon. Uttar Pradesh’s representation in the BJP national team may increase in view of the assembly election.
Currently, Radha Mohan Das Agarwal and Arun Singh are general secretaries from UP in the national team, while former state president Laxmikant Bajpai, former MP Rekha Verma and former Aligarh Muslim University VC Tariq Mansoor are vice presidents.
Rajya Sabha member Surendra Nagar is the national secretary, and Rajesh Agarwal is the treasurer. Former minister Mahendra Singh, former MP Harish Dwivedi, Rajya Sabha member Amarpal Maurya, former MP Vinod Sonkar, MLAs Pankaj Singh and Shrikant Sharma, MLCs Ashwani Tyagi, Ashok Kataria, Govind Narayan Shukla and Santosh Singh are the potential contenders who might be inducted into the national organisation.
