UP: ‘Repeat 2014’ BJP Meet Begins In Chitrakoot

NEW DELHI: With an aim to repeat its performance of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) crucial three-day meet started in Chitrakoot on Friday.

In 2014, BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. Its ally Apna Dal had won two seats. Congress was reduced to two seats in the state and the then ruling party in the state, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, was reduced to five seats.

Former chief minister Mayawati-led BSP could not get even a single seat.

In the meeting, the BJP’s top brass, including national president JP Nadda and general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, will deliberate strategies for the 2024 polls.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh along with all state ministers, all six regional presidents, district in-charges and Union ministers from the state will take part in the meeting.

The party has organised training sessions to equip the leaders with necessary tools to communicate effectively with people about the ongoing welfare schemes of the government.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, multiple welfare schemes are being implemented. The focus is to ensure that the benefit of these schemes reaches the last person,” a party leader in Delhi told The New Indian.

He further said, “In the chief ministers and deputy chief ministers meeting in Delhi held recently, PM Modi had clearly said that all the pending projects should be completed before 2024 and the implementation of welfare schemes should be ensured.”

In the current Lok Sabha, the BJP has 64 representatives from Uttar Pradesh. Recent bypoll wins in Azamgarh and Rampur has given the party a shot in the arm.

In the 2019 elections, two main regional parties, SP and BSP, had contested as allies. The BSP increased its tally from zero in 2014 to 10 in 2019. The Congress party won only one seat.