The BJP has begun planning for the 2022 election cycle, which will include Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Gujarat later that year, with the party’s general secretary (organization) B.L. Santosh visiting Uttarakhand last weekend and Uttar Pradesh on Monday to hold organizational meetings.
The second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, as well as the BJP’s and its governments’ perceptions during that time, impacted heavily on the sessions.
Mr. Santosh met with State unit office bearers in Lucknow, where State Health Minister Jay Pratap Singh and Health Education Minister Suresh Khanna were also present, according to sources.
“The main focus of these meetings is, of course, to look at ways that the ‘Seva hi Sangathan’ program of rural outreach during COVID-19 pandemic announced by party president J.P. Nadda is carried out. But yes, organizational restructuring may also be discussed,” said a source who did not confirm whether this could mean the replacement of the party’s State president Swatantra Dev Singh.
Dissatisfaction among party MLAs
“There is much unrest within the party, with several MLAs having publicly written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the many ways in which the administration had failed to respond to the pandemic and also the anger among the people with the ruling party. Stocktaking is, therefore, important,” said the source.
“After the panchayat polls, many Zilla Parishad is yet to elect the heads of these district level bodies and, therefore, the party also needs to discuss how best to get their candidates elected to that post in maximum districts, get in touch with independents, etc.,” added an Uttar Pradesh BJP office-bearer.
Yogi Adityanath’s Government will begin an intense immunization campaign on June 1, and BJP members have been instructed to make themselves visible on the ground to ensure its success.
In Uttarakhand, Mr. Santosh met the State’s core committee for the first time since Tirath Singh Rawat took over as Chief Minister from Trivendra Singh Rawat. Here, too, the focus was on party workers going out to rural regions to aid in the fight against the pandemic’s second wave. According to insiders, the goal was to overcome the perception gap that the BJP organization was missing on the ground at a crucial moment.
According to sources, RSS second-in-command Dattatreya Hosabele visited U.P. earlier this week as part of a previously planned tour, but he also attended talks at the organizational level.
