Union Home Minister Amit Shah directed BJP leaders to intensify grassroots outreach in West Bengal, setting performance benchmarks for the upcoming state elections. He emphasized party unity and the importance of booth-level workers.
Much of the credit for bringing the BJP, which had lost ground in UP, back to the top goes to Sunil Bansal.
'The move to appoint a person with a profile, markedly lower than the leader Nitin Nabin will replace, has the potential to put the brakes on the careers of several others in the party and government in the positions they currently hold,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The BJP appointed Sunil Bansal, one of the party's key election managers, as its national general secretary and in charge of three opposition-ruled states -- West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana -- in run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
I learnt that Yogi was deeply unhappy with the BJP's choice of Lok Sabha candidates. He had proposed a list of names, but hardly any of his suggestions were accepted.
According to the party sources, the preparations are in full swing and seasoned BJP workers are being deployed on more than 50 seats.
Several Odisha police personnel and BJP supporters were injured and vehicles of the cops were damaged as saffron party workers fought a pitched battle with the force during a march to the assembly.
Former Union minister Prakash Javadekar and another senior party leader Om Prakash Mathur was made poll in-charge for Telangana and Chhattisgarh respectively, a party statement said.
The BJP has dropped C T Ravi, a leader from Karnataka, Dilip Saikia, a Lok Sabha MP from Assam, as its general secretaries, and Vinod Sonkar, Harish Dwivedi, both Lok Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh, and Sunil Deodhar as secretaries.
Besides Nadda, BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, Union Minister, election in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Dharmendra Pradhan, state unit president Swatantar Dev Singh and general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal were among those who attended the meeting that lasted for nearly five hours.
The core committee of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP met at the party headquarters in Lucknow in the presence of Nadda.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has raised the number of "difficult" Lok Sabha seats it is eying to win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to 160 from 144, with a big chunk of additions coming from Bihar where it is set to contest most of the constituencies on its own following its split with the Janata Dal-United.
BJP president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were among those who attended the meeting.
Many factors like women, caste combination, education qualification, age and performance of the legislators will be taken into consideration before the formation of the Yogi government 2.0, sources said on Thursday. Several rounds of meetings have taken place within the party after the poll results came out on March 10.
'Many veteran leaders in the Odisha BJP had met them, but their problems were never sorted out.'
For the first time, non-upper castes are in a majority in the board, as the party continues with its outreach to traditionally weaker and backward sections of society.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and former state BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya had also dropped a hint in a recent tweet, saying Yaduvanshi (Yadavs), Ravidasiyo (Jatavs) and Pasmanda Muslims will be brought closer to the BJP so that the lotus 'blossoms' in every booth in UP.
The Bijnor police has junked a noted journalist's allegation of land grabbing in Nagina town near here against Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Kshetra trust general secretary and Champat Rai.
He met the chief minister twice but was scolded and forced to leave, Chhotelal said.
For the post of deputy chief minister, the names of Swatantra Dev Singh, Baby Rani Maurya, Brijesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya are in talks.
BJP's national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Radha Mohan Singh on Monday held meetings with the top state leaders and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh office-bearers here to review the party's programmes in the politically crucial state where assembly polls are due next year.
'I was feeling so suffocated under Yogiji's rule.'
Among the other names tipped to make it to the Cabinet are Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Baijayant Panda.
'They are our go-to men, our trouble-shooters.' 'They draw their strength from remaining low-key and accessible only to our workers.'
It was conveyed that he would not have a free rein in making bureaucratic postings. Sunil Bansal, handpicked by BJP president Amit Shah to execute his UP blueprint, has made it clear the party's writ would run over the government. But Adityanath has institutionalised a system to keep Bansal out, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
Except drubbing in Delhi and Bihar, the BJP president has had a good record since he took over the reins of the party in June 2014, says Archis Mohan.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah are being showered with accolades for securing a historic victory in the Uttar Pradesh elections, the milestone's scriptwriter, Sunil Bansal is glad his hard work has finally paid off.
Behind the BJP's astounding electoral success is a small army of dedicated lieutenants marshalled by Amit Shah.
BJP MP Satish Gautam demanded the expulsion of Uttar Pradesh Labour Minister Swami Prasad Maurya from the party for calling Jinnah a 'mahapurush'
Nearly 1,500 akansha petis (boxes of aspirations) have been placed in colleges for students to reveal what they expect from a BJP government. While demonetisation figured high in villages, BJP strategist Siddharth Sikka says city youth were "more concerned" about law and order and sanitation.
He also appealed to everyone to light a lamp this Diwali in the name of Lord Ram.
A major revamp of Uttar Pradesh unit of BJP is likely in the coming month. And nobody in the party hierarchy has an idea about what's going on in party president Amit Shah's mind.
'Narendra Modi is single-handedly changing the formula to win elections. With money, human resources, mobile technology, the Internet, advance planning and tremendous confidence, he has spread his image more in UP villages than in urban areas.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports from Lucknow on how Team Modi is changing the rules of the election game.
'That the commandments to officialdom were issued by a BJP functionary and not a minister is a reflection of the Yogi government's work style.'
The second part of journalist Rajdeep Sardesai's interview to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
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