UP BJP gets into yatra mode ahead of Assembly polls

Lucknow, Dec 1 The Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh is getting into the yatra mode by rolling out six yatras that will pass through all 403 Assembly constituencies in the state that goes to the polls early next year.

The party had taken out similar yatras ahead of the 2017 state elections as well.

"The previous yatras were aimed at exposing the previous government, but this yatra would be to tell the cadres about our achievements and seek people's blessings," said a party functionary.

The yatras, beginning on December 7, will be co-ordinated by Vidya Sagar Sonkar, a Dalit leader of the party. They will likely start from six different places from each of the six organisational regions and end at Lucknow with a rally, likely to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Leaders who would lead these yatras are yet to be decided, but the motorised chariots will have cut outs of Modi and Yogi who remain our star campaigners," said the BJP leader.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), ideological mentor of the BJP, will also be involved in galvanising the masses for these yatras that would also focus on the 78 seats that the BJP failed to win in 2017 polls. The party will also focus on constituencies where the anti-incumbency factor is palpable.

"These yatras will be held before ticket distribution and will help the party assess the popular mood. To beat anti-incumbency, the BJP is expected to change almost half of the sitting lawmakers in various Assembly seats where it gets adverse feedback," the functionary said.

Interestingly, the yatras will especially focus more on opposition bastions like Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as well as Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha constituency of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Congress spokesman Zishan Haider said. "We hope that these yatras travel through regions like Hathras and Lakhimpur Kheri where unspeakable atrocities were heaped on the poor, Dalits and farmers by the ruling party and its insensitive leaders."