Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Friday told the party workers in Uttar Pradesh not to get “rattled” by the tie-up between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. At a rally of party workers in eastern UP, Shah said the BJP is ready for the challenge posed by the opposition in the polls.

“You don’t need to get rattled by the alliance. The BJP is ready for a battle for 50 per cent vote share in Uttar Pradesh,” Shah told the booth-level workers of the BJP at Maharajganj.

The SP and the BSP recently shelved their rivalry to join hands in Uttar Pradesh against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati announced their alliance last month.

The alliance is considered to be formidable force in the parliamentary polls, likely to be held in April-May this year. The parties defeated the BJP in the Lok Sabha bypolls when they put up joint candidates.

Shah alleged that under the SP and the BSP governments, Purvanchal or the eastern UP was facing “the menace of mosquitoes and mafia”. Shah said that development of the state was never a priority for the SP and the BSP during their rule in Uttar Pradesh.

“During ‘Bua-Bhatija’ reign Purvanchal was facing menace of mosquitoes and mafia. After the BJP government was formed, mafia disappeared and encephalitis cases are going down,” he said.

The BJP president also attacked the Congress party alleging that “dynasty” is the most important criterion in the party for deciding leadership role. “The BJP doesn’t function on basis of dynasty but on democracy. When our government is formed, there’s development,” said Shah.

Shah’s interaction with the partymen in Purvanchal was aimed at galvanising the ground-level workers in the region. Eastern UP has emerged as a key electoral battlefield particularly after the Congress appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the general secretary in-charge of the region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi won his Lok Sabha election in 2014 from Varanasi that lies in eastern UP. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s constituency Gorakhpur is also in located in Purvanchal.

The alliance of the SP and the BSP is expected to pose a serious challenge to the BJP in its stronghold. Priyanka Gandhi’s appointment as in-charge of eastern UP for the Congress has made the poll battle here three-cornered.

First Published: Feb 08, 2019 15:19 IST