BJP banks on Kalyan to better UP score

Sonia ended her three-day tour today and flew back to New Delhi but her party hasn’t yet formulated its election campaign or even rejuvenated the cadre.

Meanwhile, the BJP is pinning its hopes on Kalyan to better its electoral prospects in the state. The decision for formation of the election committee came after the party’s state executive committee meeting today. Mahajan made it clear the party wouldn’t tolerate any infighting. ‘‘The leaders sitting to my right (Kalyan Singh) and those to my left (Rajnath Singh) have realised what went wrong when in 1999 the party secured only half the seats as compared to 1998,’’ Mahajan said, hinting at the infighting which led to Kalyan’s expulsion.

Almost all prominent state leaders, including Rajnath, Kalraj Mishra, Vinay Katiyar, have been made members of the new committee which has been empowered to take decisions except ticket distribution. However, as Mahajan pointed out, ‘‘the distribution of tickets is done through our parliamentary board but with so many powerful names in the committee, it will be hard for the board to ignore its recommendations on ticket-distribution.’’

Party insiders said the BJP is set to launch a massive campaign focusing on UP after its parliamentary board meeting on February 16 during which potential candidates will be decided. ‘‘Our board will decide on the issue,’’ Mahajan said when asked if the members of the committee would be kept away from electoral politics.