Ex-BSP leaders to draft BJP's Uttar Pradesh poll strategy

Lucknow: Leaders, who till a few months ago, had publicly vowed to ‘bulldoze’ the BJP, will now draft the strategy for its return to power, especially in Uttar Pradesh that goes to polls early next month.

The BJP, from Uttar Pradesh, has nominated four former BSP leaders,  Brijesh Pathak, Swami Prasad Maurya, Jugal Kishore and  Dara Singh Chauhan, to the national executive. These leaders had joined the BJP in the past few months and are yet to familiarise themselves with the working of the party and its ideology.

These four leaders will be attending the national executive of the BJP that begins next week in Kozhikode in Kerala. The ex-BSP leaders were nominated on Monday evening along with three other party leaders including Dr Narendra Singh Gaur, Mr Narendra Singh and Mr Jai Prakash Chaturvedi.

The nomination of these four former BSP leaders has led to murmuring of discontent in the state unit with senior party leaders objecting to the decision.

“The sanctity of the national executive is being compromised. Those who have joined the party less than a month ago (Brijesh Pathak) are now members of the apex body. What signal does the party leadership want to send to our cadres? Will such actions not cause resentment on a large scale and damage the party in the elections?’” asked a former BJP minister.

Party leaders feel that giving undue importance to outsiders and sidelining the veteran leaders will prove suicidal for the party in the upcoming assembly elections.

The Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh had already warned the BJP that giving too many tickets to outsiders and welcoming ‘one and all’ with open arms would prove detrimental to party interests. The RSS has asked the BJP to restrict itself to about 30-35 tickets to outsiders.

Apart from the influx from BSP, a large number of retired bureaucrats and police officials are also queuing up to join the BJP and almost all of them are keen to contest elections.

“The party leadership has not held consultations with senior legislators and it is the new entrants who are calling the shots. The party is apparently ignoring the ground reality and is caught up in the euphoria of people wanting to join the party. The euphoria will evapourate when tickets are announced and the cadres refuse to work for the newcomers”, said one of the senior most BJP MLAs.

Meanwhile, BJP spoke sman Chandramohan said the move showed the party’s belief in inclusive development. “Once a leader joins the party, he is a part of the family and we believe in taking everyone along,” he said.