BJP starts early for assembly elections with plans to announce candidates early

New Delhi: After falling short of majority in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is leaving nothing to chance and is gearing up for the assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand with plans to announce candidates early. Some populist measures are also under consideration, sources said.

BJP's Haryana in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan and Jharkhand in-charge Shivraj Chouhan, both Union ministers and seasoned election managers, have visited their respective assigned states and held meetings with leaders.

Under Chouhan as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, BJP had won three assembly polls in a state which has a substantial tribal population like Jharkhand. Pradhan has successfully managed several states, including the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.


BJP's Maharashtra in-charge and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav is scheduled to visit the state on Friday. Yadav had successfully managed the 2019 assembly polls in the state. He will hold meetings with the core group of the party's state unit and one-on-one meetings with several BJP leaders from the state.

Home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Haryana on June 29 and on July 5 he is likely to visit Maharashtra. Shah has plans to visit Jharkhand in the second week of July.

Sources said t the BJP is also looking to take some populist measures -- like it took in Haryana, where the BJP government revised the creamy layer limit of OBCs to ₹8 lakh from ₹6 lakh, raised backwards reservation in group A and group B jobs in the state to 27% from15%.