LUCKNOW: With electoral debacle in Kairana and Noorpur bypolls still afresh, the politically crucial west UP region is back on the agenda of UP CM
Yogi Adityanath. He will reach
Saharanpur on Sunday to take direct feedback from party functionaries from at least four parliamentary constituencies — Saharanpur, Bijnor, Kairana and Muzaffarnagar — even as the BJP faces the prospects of taking on a united opposition in the
Lok Sabha elections due next year.
The CM’s visit to the Saharanpur also gains much significance after the state government announced sops for the cane growers in the west UP region. Besides announcing a soft loan facility to the millers for payment of arrears, the state government announced a compensation of Rs 4.5 per quintal to be paid directly to farmers.
The move to assuage the cane growers comes months after the united opposition raked up the issue of rising cane arrears to put the ruling BJP in a tight spot, which eventually resulted in its defeat in the Kairana and Noorpur byelections.
UP BJP state general secretary and party’s west UP in charge, Vijay Bahadur Pathak confirmed that the meeting is part of the party’s preparation for the next year’s Lok Sabha elections. Byelections are now a past. Our party is aiming at above 50% vote share in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections,’’ he told TOI.
Political experts said that the BJP might find west UP region a tough political territory amid resurgence of Ajit Singh-led
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) which also seeks to be part of the much-anticipated grand alliance. Bhim Army chief
Chandra Shekhar Azad, who was recently released from jail, too, has been spewing venom against the BJP amid reports that the Congress sought to prop up the Dalit youth icon against the saffron party.
Yogi Adityanath
