The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will kick off its election campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with ‘Vijay Sankalp’ (victory pledge) rallies in majority of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh though the party will focus majorly on western UP where polls will be held in the first phase.

BJP chief Amit Shah will launch the party campaign in Agra while chief minister Yogi Adityanath will be in Saharanpur for the campaign on Sunday.

Yogi will also be in Mathura on Monday to address a rally in favour of party candidate Hema Malini. Several union ministers and BJP leaders would similarly address public meetings across the state.

BJP spokesman Harish Srivastava said Shah would also attend a public meeting in Moradabad on Tuesday even as union home minister Rajnath Singh arrives in Lucknow on Sunday.

The party is also finalising schedule for election rallies by its star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose appeal, they hope, would help blunt the caste advantage that the SP-BSP-RLD alliance enjoys in Uttar Pradesh.

Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya would be in Lakhimpur Kheri to address a BJP rally and, leading the BJP charge in Rae Bareli, the LS constituency of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, would be state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey on Sunday.

Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma will address a rally in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday.

Party leaders say that having announced the candidature of union minister Smriti Irani from Amethi seat, from where Rahul is re-contesting, the BJP would continue to focus on the two constituencies.

Irani will be in Kanpur on Sunday for a rally while union railway minister minister Piyush Goyal will be in Bareilly.

First Published: Mar 24, 2019 08:02 IST