UP elections: BJP plans six PM Narendra Modi rallies in next two months

Sources said the first rally is scheduled for October 24 in Mahoba district of Bundelkhand region, and the climax will be on December 25 in Lucknow. The remaining venues are likely to be finalised after consulting BJP state unit leaders.

While clarifying that these are “not campaign rallies but various functions across the state”, a party leader said, “The Prime Minister is naturally the face of the party’s campaign. Announcing a chief minister candidate is not important for us. We are fighting the elections on the strength of our organisation and the performance of the Central government.”

Scotching all speculations, the party’s UP unit chief, Keshav Prasad Maurya, today announced in Bareilly, UP, that the party will go to the polls without a CM candidate. The announcement comes even as the ruling Samajwadi Party is in the middle of a bitter battle over whether Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is the natural candidate for the party. The issue has been complicated by conflicting statements from party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The strategy not to announce a CM candidate is a throwback to the BJP’s Bihar campaign, when Modi had spearheaded the charge, and the consequence was disastrous for the BJP.

In Assam a few months later, however, the party romped home with Sarbananda Sonowal as its declared CM face.

The BJP leadership believes there is no comparison between UP and Bihar because the public mood has changed after the September 29 “surgical strikes” in terror launch pads in PoK, giving the party an edge it never had in Bihar.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Uma Bharti Monday said claimed that there was no politics in surgical strikes.

“Whole country was happy after surgical strike, since it was a right step away from politics,” Bharti said.