Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has turned its focus to 14 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh where the party lost in the 2019 elections. Four Union ministers have been assigned the responsibility of assessing the party's strength and weakness in these areas.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi holds the Raebareli seat. The Samajwadi Party has three Lok Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh, including Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri) and Shafiqur Rahman Barq (Sambhal). The BSP has 10 Lok Sabha MPs from the state.
Accessing challenges on lost seats
“The party has given responsibility to Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Annapurna Devi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Jitendra Singh to assess the strength, weakness, challenges and threats on the lost seats," said a senior BJP leader.
"These ministers have assessed these areas in the first phase and have submitted a report to the party. BJP state unit general secretary Amarpal Maurya has been authorised to coordinate between the organisation and the government on these 14 seats," the senior leader said.
UP BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary has, in a meeting of the state unit of the working committee last month, exhorted office bearers to ensure victory in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
As part of efforts to secure the seats, the party is holding meetings with beneficiaries of various schemes of the Centre and state government. It has also started a dialogue with various sections of the society.
BJP national president JP Nadda had visited Uttar Pradesh on January 20 after the extension of his term and interacted with ex-servicemen, booth committee members and prominent members of society. Nadda will tour western Uttar Pradesh and other senior leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will also visit the seats the party had lost in 2019, a party leader said.
“We are establishing a dialogue with the public by identifying booths where the results were not in our favour in the 2019 elections," Chaudhary said.
The Uttar Pradesh election result is significant as the state accounts for 80 seats in the Lok Sabha.
