BJP begins outreach program in UP, to apprise voters of Modi govt's achievements

They would make an effort to communicate to the public the Centre's achievements in the past 48 months.

Lucknow, Jun 7: Senior BJP leaders have embarked on a mission to reach out to the voters in Uttar Pradesh and inform them about the work done by the Narendra Modi-led government in the last four years. This comes barely a week after the BJP lost bypolls in Kairana and Noorpur.

Called the Vishesh Sampark Abhiyaan (Special Contact Campaign), the 15-day programme, which began on June 1, is likely to witness a number of Union ministers, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, descending at different places across the state. They would make an effort to communicate to the public the Centre's achievements in the past 48 months. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Dinesh Sharma, and a number of his ministerial colleagues were likely to reach out to people in different districts.

"Some Union ministers likely to be in the state are Rajnath Singh (in Lucknow), Manoj Sinha (Aligarh on June 13), VK Singh (Varanasi on June 9), Satyapal Singh (Allahabad on June 10), Santosh Gangwar (Agra on June 14), Mahesh Sharma (Faizabad), Shiv Pratap Shukla (Bareilly on June 11) and Krishnaraj (Firozabad on June 7)," Amarpal Maurya, UP co-ordinator of the Vishesh Sampark Abhiyaan, told PTI here today.

He said Adityanath would be going to Gorakhpur, his own citadel, and Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides the state capital which is represented in the Lok Sabha by Rajnath Singh. Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma was likely to be in Varanasi, while national general secretary Anil Jain was likely to be in Kanpur, he said, adding that even party office bearers of the state unit were assigned tasks under the campaign.

"The party through this campaign aims to reach out to 16,000 families, and the number is increasing," Maurya claimed.

When asked if there was a separate focus on the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats, which the party lost in the bypolls, Maurya said, "This is a nationwide campaign, and is a part of the efforts by the party to reach to its voters."

"The word 'Vishesh' has been prefixed to the campaign, as through this, the party aims to reach to the intellectuals in the society. This is different from the membership drive undertaken by the party."

He also said former UP BJP chiefs Ramapati Ram Tripathi (for Meerut), Surya Pratap Shahi (for Kanpur) and Kalraj Mishra among others were engaged as a part of the campaign. The current UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey was in Moradabad.

"The intellectual class of the society whom we are approaching (as a part of this yatra) are the opinion makers...It is the responsibility of the political party to present the report of the work done by them to the people," UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said.

"We are telling people what we have done in the past 48 months, and based on that we are soliciting their support, and why should they vote for the BJP," he added. When asked how the party would ensure that opinion makers help it by ensuring a high polling turnout, Tripathi said, "The interaction through the campaign will help the intellectual class to associate itself with the political process and not stay aloof or isolated from it."

He said he was confident that they would exercise their voting rights and motivate other sections of the society to cast their vote as well.

"The intellectual class will also apprise the public about the work done by the BJP as compared to those by other political parties including the Congress in the past," he said.

A senior party leader said the party might approach some retired judges of the high court to mould public opinion in Varanasi, though the list of names was yet to be finalised. "As far as Ayodhya is concerned, the party is likely to approach the seers, a list of which is yet to be finalised," another party leader said.

Meanwhile, UP BJP general secretary and Noida MLA Pankaj Singh yesterday as part of the campaign in Lucknow met eminent cardiologist Padmashri Mansoor Hasan, Alok Dhawan (director of Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, a CSIR institute), Swami Muktinathanand of Ram Krishna Mission Sewa Ashram, PK Seth (founding CEO of Biotech Park) and educationist Jagdish Gandhi.

PTI