BJP wakes UP to Delhi power matrix

LUCKNOW: The BJP on Sunday got into the electioneering groove as it kicked off its campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. At a huge rally at the sprawling Ambedkar Maidan here on Sunday afternoon, the party leadership formally put up Kalyan Singh, the OBC leader who is considered the original mascot of the Ayodhya movement, as its chief ministerial candidate.

With Rajnath Singh being asked to shoulder the party’s responsibility at the Centre, the party leadership was left with no option but to fall back on Kalyan to lead its campaign to re-capture power in a state which had in the 90s come to be regarded as its bastion. The Lodh Rajput leader’s name as the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate was formally announced at the Parivartan Rally, first by Rajnath and, later, by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, LK Advani.

The bugle for the re-energising the party in time for the next round of Assembly polls in the state was sounded by none other than former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who represents the state capital in the Lok Sabha. “Everyone knows that the route to New Delhi crosses through Lucknow,” the BJP veteran told the national council in his valedictory address, adding, “Lucknow is a historical city. Translated in Hindi, it means saubhagya ab (luck-now). But luck-now cannot come on its own. We’ll have to make efforts to usher it in.”

There was, Mr Vajpayee maintained, only one mantra to attain this goal. “Let’s all work together, forgetting old differences and rubbing shoulders to confront the challenge. There should be no room for factionalism within the party,” he asserted. “It’s important that we remember that the ramifications of the elections in UP will not be limited to the state. So, we should undertake sincere efforts to re-establish the party’s pre-eminent position in the state,” he said.

The former PM used a metaphor to describe the situation prevailing in the state, comparing it to the deplorable condition of the capital’s lifeline, River Gomti. “My blood boils when I see the river. We’re also responsible for it. Our cadre, however, can feel proud about what we’ve done to bring it back to life. But this is not enough. We’ve to link it with the Uttar Pradesh’s re-emergence as a developed state,” Mr Vajpayee pointed out.

The theme had been re-emphasised earlier by Mr Advani. “The first challenge — and also the first opportunity — before the party is in Uttar Pradesh. Let’s enter the electoral fray by conveying to the people of the state that the BJP is the only alternative to the politics of criminalisation, casteism and chaos,” he told the delegates of the national council.

The former deputy prime minister lamented that the state’s development curve is on a downswing over the past few years. “Out of the four erstwhile BIMARU states, Uttar Pradesh alone is still afflicted with the bimari of backwardness. As delegates to this national council were informed on Saturday, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and even Bihar are now on a growth path, and can no longer be bracketed with Uttar Pradesh,” Mr Advani contended.

He exhorted his colleagues to work hard to reinvigorate the BJP in the state. “Uttar Pradesh is where the BJP derived its real strength from on its march to power at the Centre in the 1990s. And Uttar Pradesh is where the BJP will bounce back,” he sounded optimistic. The theme was harped on repeatedly at the rally held later in the day, with the speakers tearing into the Mulayam Singh Yadav government for what they described as complete anarchy.