Journalism of Courage
With his term as the BJP national president extended till 2024, JP Nadda is all set to visit Ghazipur district in east Uttar Pradesh on Friday, marking the beginning of the party’s campaign in those Lok Sabha constituencies in the state where BJP lost in 2019.
Ghazipur is one of the 16 Lok Sabha constituencies in UP where BJP lost in last General Elections. The BJP had won 64 of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2019.
Nadda is scheduled to land in Varanasi on Thursday evening. After prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple the next morning, he will leave for Ghazipur, said party sources.
In Ghazipur, Nadda will first visit Pauhari Baba Ashram and then hold a meeting with workers of the party’s local booth committee of Kursagaon area, said party sources. He will also hold a meeting with ex-servicemen and felicitate them, too. He will also address a rally in Tulsipur.
After the rally, Nadda will hold a meeting with the party’s Lok Sabha Sanchalan Samiti (Lok Sabha coordination committee) — usually comprising local party MPs, MLAs, key office bearers and other representatives — and district office bearers at the party’s district office to discuss the reasons for the party’s defeat in Ghazipur district in 2019 and 2022, and to prepare a roadmap for the 2024 elections, said a party leader in Ghazipur.
“BJP lost elections in Ghazipur in 2019. Besides, the party could not win even a single Assembly seat in 2022. Thus, former MPs, MLAs and candidates who had contested the previous elections will be invited to the meeting,” he said.
In 2019, BSP’s Afzal Ansari won the Ghazipur Lok Sabha seat, defeating BJP’s Manoj Sinha.
Of the 16 parliamentary seats that the BJP lost in the 2019 elections, the party won two of them — Rampur and Azamgarh — in the by-elections in June last year by defeating Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates.
Other seats the party lost in 2019 included Ghazipur, Lalganj, Nagina, Amroha, Bijnor, Ambedkar Nagar, Saharanpur, Ghosi, Shrawasti, Jaunpur (all 10 won by BSP) Sambhal, Moradabad, Mainpuri (all won by SP), Rae Bareli (won by Congress). The BJP lost the Mainpuri bypoll last month despite a rigorous campaign in the SP bastion.
BJP sources said Union Home Minister Amit Shah would soon start a similar tour to these constituencies (where the BJP lost), where he would hold meetings with local BJP election committees and address public rallies and party workers.
After Nadda’s one-day tour to Ghazipur, the UP BJP will hold its state executive meet, an exercise mandatory for the state units after the meeting of the national executive, in Lucknow on January 22. The party’s national executive meeting concluded in New Delhi on Tuesday.
“At the state executive meeting, the executive committee members will be informed about the resolutions the party passed at the recently-concluded national executive meeting. Besides, proposals will be passed to appreciate the works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government in UP and resolutions will be taken for the party’s win in the local body elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Also, strategy to counter the propaganda of the Opposition will also be drawn at the meet,” said a BJP leader.
