Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh to hold six rallies in UP for reaching out to OBCs, Dalits

NEW DELHI: BJP is in the process of chalking out programs to reach out to OBCs and Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the coming weeks and will hold six rallies each of party chief Amit Shah and former state chief minister Rajnath Singh to mobilise these castes as part of its run-up to the Assembly elections next year.

After the appointment of Keshav Prasad Maurya — who belongs to the Koeri OBC caste — as BJP UP unit chief, the saffron party is making all out efforts to get the non-Yadav backward castes in its fold. As part of this strategy, the party plans to hold public meetings of Shah and home minister Rajnath Singh in various parts of the state.

These rallies will focus primarily on mobilising particular OBC and Dalit castes in the region. The dates and venue will be decided in consultation with the state unit.

Along with fanning the Hindutva agenda by raking up the Ram Mandir issue, BJP will try to get the caste combination right to increase its voteshare in the UP Assembly elections due in April 2017.

VHP has been raising the Ram temple issue and it will gather momentum from June onwards, sources said. Maurya himself has been associated with VHP.

BJP has also been making the most of prime minister Narendra Modi’s official programmes in UP. He will hold a public meeting in UP on May 26 that marks the completion of his two years as prime minister.

Though the venue has not yet been decided, it will be held in Western UP, sources said.

Modi will use the occasion to highlight his government’s welfare schemes of the last two years to reach out to the OBCs in the rally.