BJP plans Guj model to win UP polls

 Ajay Jha|NT 

The ruling BJP has fallen back on the experience and guile of Home Minister Amit Shah to win the Uttar Pradesh battle. Shah charted out the plan for the party in the poll-bound state during his last weekend visit to Lucknow. Among the decisions taken during his meeting with the senior state leaders was to replicate the Gujarat model in Uttar Pradesh, under which one-third of the sitting lawmakers are to be denied nomination.  

The art of beating anti-incumbency was perfected in Gujarat during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure as the Gujarat CM. BJP has remained undefeated in Gujarat for the past 23 years. Starting in 1998, BJP has won the Gujarat assembly five times in a row. Three of them were achieved during Modi’s tenure as CM.  

BJP has emerged victorious in 2017 UP polls with a massive mandate, winning 312 seats in the 403-member assembly, while two of its regional allies Apna Dal and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party won nine and four seas respectively, leaving its opponents Samajwadi Party, BSP and the Congress in a  complete shambles.  The one-sided victory was preceded by an even more thumping victory in the 2014 general elections when Modi made his debut in national politics by winning the Varanasi seat. BJP has managed to win 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats of UP while its ally Apna Dal won two. Amit Shah was the architect of the 2014 and 2017 victories in the state as the general secretary in-charge and BJP president respectively.  

According to BJP insiders, Shah had the state unit leaders stumped as he knew details of each of the 312 MLAs, including perceptions of the voters of their constituencies. It was decided at the meeting that about 100 of them whose performances were unimpressive would be dropped and replaced by new faces to deflect the anti-incumbency. While the list has not been made public yet, some of those likely to be denied renominations have already started exploring opportunities elsewhere.  

Shah also flagged a massive membership drive named ‘Mera Parivar BJP Parivar’, start doing door to door campaigning and educate voters about the achievements of the Yogi Adityanath government.   
Shah set the ball rolling for the 2024 general elections saying winning the UP poll would be crucial for BJP to retain power at the centre. BJP is confident of emerging victorious in UP although replicating the massive victory of 2017 may not be possible.