The BJP, that aims to pitch itself against the BSP to take advantage of the anti-incumbency factor within the Samajwadi Party, is hoping to put in place a comprehensive campaign plan for Uttar Pradesh with just over a week left for the first phase of polling.But even as it puts finishing touches to its manifesto — key points will be to highlight its development agenda, and focus on minority appeasement, criminalisation and casteism — the script for the elections has yet to be finalised for the month-long seven-phase polls.A top leader said, after his rally in the state on March 25, that the spark was still missing in the party, which included the ranks, even though the momentum for the polls ought to have picked up by now. According to him, with the Congress not in the race to be a “balancing factor” in the polls, it was for the BJP to take the initiative to make a serious bid for power. Yet, it has obviously been a late starter.The slogans are yet to be finalised. As are the details of the media campaign. Besides, even though the BJP has a high-profile campaign team — as opposed to the effectively one-person campaigns of the BSP and the Samajwadi Party — the election apparatus is yet to come together as a cohesive unit. Incidentally, March 25 marked the launch of the party’s campaign in the state with top national leaders addressing rallies in 12 cities across the state.For election management, the BJP has split the state into six separate zones, each to be looked after by a BJP leader who will be assisted by an RSS pointman. So far, they have been working within their own little circles, without getting the benefit of an overall action plan. There are also problems that, if not resolved soon, will prove crucial in this election — like an associate attached to a senior leader who was accommodated in the JD(U) list because he could not be given the party ticket, and the potential damage that Gorakhpur MP Adityanath’s rebel move may do. Dissenters are also open about the “covert understanding” with the Samajwadi Party.Party leaders are hoping that some of these issues would be sorted out once the election manifesto is released. BJP’s UP president Kesri Nath Tripathi said the manifesto was likely to be released around this weekend. That document will identify the party’s plans on criminalisation, terrorism, separatism and law and order.For the moment, a post-poll alliance is out of the question for the BJP. “We will do our best to seize the initiative. All other options will be weighed after the elections,” a senior party leader said.
