BJP seeks to dent SP, BSP stronghold

Allahabad: Buoyed by the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Parivartan Rally on the banks of Sangam, the BJP leadership has decided to focus on the rural belt, especially the strongholds of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj party under its planned strategy in Kashi Kshetra comprising 14 districts of UP.

The BJP aims to make a dent in the traditional vote bank of the BSP and SP to gain more assembly seats.

BJP leadership feels that the Kairana and Mathura episodes, along with poor law and order situation, have not only eroded the support base of Mulayam Singh Yadav's outfit, but also consolidated non-Yadavs against SP in many strongholds. The BSP anyway does not have any popular agenda of its own, it feels.

Secondly, Prime Minister Modi's clean image and achievements of the NDA government will boost the morale of party workers who would be working with fresh energy to interact with voters.

Besides, armed with Antyodaya scheme and Kisan Fasal Bima Yojna, the BJP is competent enough to take farmers and poor populace of eastern UP belt into its fold.

The party has plans to take the achievements of the NDA government to every household of the state. Party's state general secretary Swatantradeo Singh said the party has also adopted a social engineering formula to strengthen its base in the rural pockets, inducting more people into it.

Insiders told TOI that the party leadership has taken up a special campaign under its planned strategy to target those assembly seats which the party did not win in 2007 and 2012. The party has also been focusing on seats that it had in 2007 but lost in 2012 assembly elections. Focus would be given to 12 out of 15 assembly seats of Allahabad region under the social engineering formula. BJP leader and member of executive cell (Kisan Morcha) Mritunjay Tiwari said, "People are fed up with the SP and BSP governments and want to see overall development of the state."