BJP to work unitedly for better results than 2017 in UP polls: State party chief

Lucknow, Dec 23 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary on Tuesday said the state is the centre of national politics and the party will work unitedly to secure better results than the 2017 Assembly elections in the 2027 polls.

Addressing a press conference at the state BJP headquarters here, Chaudhary said the party will observe former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birth anniversary on December 25 under the 'Atal Janm Shatabdi Samaroh Abhiyan'.

He said party office-bearers, workers and public representatives along with local citizens will carry out cleanliness drives at the memorials of great personalities on Wednesday.

Lamps will also be lit at places associated with Vajpayee and at the BJP district offices to pay tribute.

Chaudhary said Vajpayee established good governance and launched several welfare initiatives, including subsidised rations for the poor, Kisan Credit Cards for farmers, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and the Golden Quadrilateral project, which paved the way for national progress through the uplift of villages, the poor and farmers.

He said that from December 25 to 31, the BJP will organise 'Atal Smriti Sammelans' in all 403 assembly constituencies of the state as part of 'Good Governance Week'.

The state BJP chief said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Lucknow on December 25, where he will inaugurate the newly constructed Rashtriya Prerna Sthal and unveil 65-foot-tall statues of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and Vajpayee. The prime minister will also address a public meeting.

Chaudhary said that Prime Minister Modi had pledged in 2022, on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, to take the immortal saga of the sacrifice of Guru Gobind Singh's sons, Baba Fateh Singh and Baba Zorawar Singh, to the younger generation.

He said various programmes will begin from December 26 to mark the martyrdom days of the Sahibzadas, with district-level meetings and outreach in schools, colleges and universities.

He said BJP workers and office-bearers are actively participating in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral campaign to ensure the removal of the names of the deceased, displaced and ineligible persons from electoral rolls and the inclusion of all eligible voters.

Responding to questions, Chaudhary said the opposition's 'Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA)' was actually a "Parivarik Dal Alliance", claiming that parties in the INDIA bloc, including the Samajwadi Party, Congress, RJD and TMC, are run by families.

"The Samajwadi Party was registered in 1992, and long before that, in 1984, the BJP had appointed Kalyan Singh as the leader of the opposition. Whenever the Samajwadi Party had the opportunity, Mulayam Singh Yadav consistently served as chief minister, and when the party again secured a majority in 2012, Akhilesh Yadav was made chief minister despite Azam Khan being much more senior," he said.

Taking a swipe at SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, he said one will have to take rebirth if he wants to become the national president of the Samajwadi Party. PTI ABN ABN KSS KSS