BJP to launch yatra in Rajasthan, deploys three ministers in Andhra Pradesh

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to take out a yatra in Rajasthan and depute three senior ministers in Andhra Pradesh to launch a campaign for the upcoming elections in these states, a party leader said on Wednesday.

Rajasthan will go to polls later this year while Andhra Pradesh goes to polls next year, simultaneous with the Lok Sabha election.

Decisions to this effect were taken in separate meetings that BJP president Amit Shah held with the core groups of respective party units, said the leader.

The yatra in Rajasthan is to minimise anti-incumbency by popularising the work of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre and the Vasundhara Raje government in the state. The BJP lost bypolls for two Lok Sabha seats and one assembly seat in the state this year.

The party will also depute Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Prakash Javadekar to hold rallies in the three regions of Andhra Pradesh to counter the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)’s charge against the Centre on the issue of special status for the southern state.

The two main parties in the state, the ruling TDP and the opposition YSR Congress, have been attacking the Modi government for allegedly not fulfilling promises made by the Centre to the southern state when it was divided in 2014.