​ UP polls: Amit Shah to kick off campaign with four yatras

NEW DELHI: BJP is set to kick off its Uttar Pradesh Assembly election campaign from the first week of November with four yatras, focusing primarily on national security, surgical strikes, development and the rights of Muslim women, from different corners of the state that will be led by senior party leaders— keeping the caste equations in mind.

BJP Chief Amit Shah, who is going to Kanpur on Friday to attend the culmination of the Dhamma Chetna Yatra that was backed by his party, will later hold a meeting in Lucknow to give final touches to the plans for the campaign. Party sources said the yatra is likely to start from November 4. Saharanpur, Sonebhadra, Ballia and Lalitpur are the venues from which the yatra will begin.

The plan is to start the yatra on different dates—with the first one being flagged on November 4—so that its gets due publicity. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra and UP unit president Keshav Prasad Maurya will be present at the flagoff of each yatra while local leaders, party MPs and MLAs will join in.

Shah himself is likely to be present during important phases of the yatra while Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar (Rajya Sabha MP from UP) will also make his presence felt. Uma Bharati will be a part of the yatra too. The four yatras will culminate on December 25, the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in Lucknow, the constituency he represented till 2009. When the yatra was being planned, the theme was to be the promise of good governance and development- along with a dose of Hindutva, but now the over-riding emphasis will be on national security against the backdrop of the surgical strikes.

Till now, Parrikar has been the only union minister who has been chest thumping on the surgical strikes but other leaders are likely to mention it during the yatra, sources said. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi practiced restraint on the issue, posters stating “Avengers of Uri” are welcome were put up in Lucknow during his visit for Dussehra celebrations.

The Ram temple at Ayodhya issue, the controversy over the Centre’s stand that triple talaq should be banned, and the assurance that a BJP government will bring development and good governance- including maintaining law and order- will also figure during the 50-day yatra that will cover almost all districts of the state.

BJP’s yatra comes soon after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi ended his 15-day yatra from Deoria to Delhi. His charge that the Modi government is engaging in “khoon ki dalali” over surgical strikes has been countered by BJP. Now the saffron party will take this issue to the people, sources said. SP leader and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is also planning to take out a cycle- his party’s election symbol- yatra soon to propagate his achievements among the people. UP polls: Amit Shah to kick off campaign with four yatras