HTLS 2021: Union home minister Amit Shas said he has toured Uttar Pradesh extensively and got the feedback that caste equations are not going to work in the upcoming assembly polls. He also dismissed there is any threat posed by the Samajwadi Party.
Union home minister Amit Shah said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will return to power in Uttar Pradesh with “overwhelming majority”. He was speaking at Hindustan Times Leadership Summit (HTLS).
He also rubbished assertions that Samajwadi Party (SP), which is stitching up alliance with smaller parties, will pose a challenge to the BJP. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav recently claimed his party will win 400 of the 403 seats in UP Assembly.
“Politics is not physics, it’s chemistry. Voters are aware, they won’t be guided by caste equations anymore. I have extensively toured the state, and can say this with confidence that BJP will form government with overwhelming majority in Uttar Pradesh,” Shah told HT Media Limited’s Chairperson and Editorial Director Shobhana Bhartia.
BJP’s position is really strong in Uttar Pradesh, he added.
Shah said there is no impact of farmers’ protest in the state since Prime Minister Narendra Modi repealed the three laws, which triggered the agitation.
Uttar Pradesh is one of the five major states going to polls in the first half of next year. The ruling BJP has deployed its senior leadership, including PM Modi and home minister Shah, to give a boost to the party’s campaign in the state.
Shah has already announced that UP polls will be fought under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath, who successfully led the party in 2017 polls.
The BJP started preparations for UP months in advance. In October, the party’s central leadership held a crucial meeting with the Uttar Pradesh unit on the 2022 assembly polls. The BJP leadership discussed the party’s election agenda and asked the state unit to reach out to the people with positive message.
The schedule of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections is expected to be announced in January. The BJP won the power in the state in 2017, bagging 312 seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections. The Samajwadi Party got 47 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 19, and Congress managed 7 seats in the last assembly polls.
