Local leaders for BJP campaign

The BJP will not deploy leaders from outside Uttar Pradesh (UP) for campaigning in the state as it did in Bihar and Delhi Assembly elections.

A decision has been taken to push local leaders or if need be, outsiders with roots in UP for election duties, said a source in the party. The BJP’s earlier electoral strategy of carpet bombing outside leaders for micro-management did not go down well in Delhi and Bihar as the party’s local leadership and cadres had interpreted the move as a reflection of distrust on their ability to deliver.

In both the states, which the BJP lost badly, the central leadership had deployed Union ministers and non-native cadres in each of the Assembly constituencies to strengthen the local party network, which it felt was weaker than that of the opponents.

In fact, in Bihar, the BJP had devised a much more structured and overarching management construct by dividing the party into different sectors and brought in senior leaders from the party and the RSS to work as a bridge between the grassroot workers and the election in-charge to counter the JD(U)-led coalition.

Among the many lessons learnt from the Bihar debacle is to make election management less centralised so that the outcome, if not favourable, is not a reflection on the top leadership, said a BJP leader.

The party, however, has some advantage as it has many heavyweights from the state – Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Manoj Sinha, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Sanjeev Baliyan and Mahesh Sharma.