Yogi Adityanath takes reins of city polls to make it 3 wins in a row
, ET Bureau|
Updated: Nov 02, 2017, 11.25 PM IST
NEW DELHI: BJP will bring out a manifesto for municipal polls in Uttar Pradesh for the first time and get chief minister Yogi Adityanath to hold rallies in all the 16 municipal corporations in the state in a bid to sweep the upcoming local polls.
BJP will unveil the manifesto in the next few days, considering the polls as the first big test of popularity of the Adityanath government, senior state party officials told ET.
“We aim to win all 16 municipal corporations this time,” state BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told ET from Lucknow. “It will serve as a hat-trick of best performances for us after the massive wins for BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the 2017 assembly elections.”
BJP is expected to announce the first list of its candidates for the municipal polls this week. The party had already completed a door-to-door visit in all municipal corporations before Diwali. The chief minister will address multiple rallies in the newly-formed corporations in religious towns of Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan, party leaders said.
“It is a big test for BJP to come up with its best performance in UP municipal polls before 2019 (when the next Lok Sabha elections will be held),” a senior party functionary said.
“Other parties are also taking these polls seriously unlike earlier,” he said, but pointed out that Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress were contesting these polls on their own.
“The so-called opposition unity in UP assembly polls and before the Lok Sabha by-polls in Phulpur and Gorakhpur has already collapsed,” the leader said.
BJP has traditionally done well in UP municipal polls, given its appeal in urban areas. It won 11 out of the 14 municipal corporations in 2012, even when it was weak on the state’s political map.
Opposition parties, especially SP, are aggressive too.
SP has given a ticket to a cross-gender candidate Gulshan Bindu in Ayodhya Municipal Corporation, posing a challenge to BJP in this prestigious seat.
A BJP leader conceded that Bindu “polled a good amount of votes in 2012 assembly polls while fighting as independent”.
All BJP ministers in the state have been given extensive duties for contacting voters. The party manifesto is expected to offer a simplified system of computing house tax and water tax – the two major revenue earners for a corporation, and digital monitoring of payment of bills by consumers. Plus, promises will be made for better cleanliness and traffic management in UP’s urban centres.
“With BJP in power in Centre and UP, the municipal corporations will gain if under BJP rule. We are working aggressively on 24X7 power and Swachh Bharat for cleanliness — the two major problems in urban UP,” a BJP leader said.
BJP will unveil the manifesto in the next few days, considering the polls as the first big test of popularity of the Adityanath government, senior state party officials told ET.
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BJP is expected to announce the first list of its candidates for the municipal polls this week. The party had already completed a door-to-door visit in all municipal corporations before Diwali. The chief minister will address multiple rallies in the newly-formed corporations in religious towns of Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan, party leaders said.
“It is a big test for BJP to come up with its best performance in UP municipal polls before 2019 (when the next Lok Sabha elections will be held),” a senior party functionary said.
“Other parties are also taking these polls seriously unlike earlier,” he said, but pointed out that Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress were contesting these polls on their own.
“The so-called opposition unity in UP assembly polls and before the Lok Sabha by-polls in Phulpur and Gorakhpur has already collapsed,” the leader said.
BJP has traditionally done well in UP municipal polls, given its appeal in urban areas. It won 11 out of the 14 municipal corporations in 2012, even when it was weak on the state’s political map.
Opposition parties, especially SP, are aggressive too.
SP has given a ticket to a cross-gender candidate Gulshan Bindu in Ayodhya Municipal Corporation, posing a challenge to BJP in this prestigious seat.
A BJP leader conceded that Bindu “polled a good amount of votes in 2012 assembly polls while fighting as independent”.
All BJP ministers in the state have been given extensive duties for contacting voters. The party manifesto is expected to offer a simplified system of computing house tax and water tax – the two major revenue earners for a corporation, and digital monitoring of payment of bills by consumers. Plus, promises will be made for better cleanliness and traffic management in UP’s urban centres.
“With BJP in power in Centre and UP, the municipal corporations will gain if under BJP rule. We are working aggressively on 24X7 power and Swachh Bharat for cleanliness — the two major problems in urban UP,” a BJP leader said.
