BJP plans to field bigwigs in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls

In an apparent bid to boost the morale of the party workers and tackle groupism within the party, the BJP plans to field its top Uttar Pradesh leaders, including chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy CM Dinesh Sharma in the upcoming Assembly polls in the state, due early next year.

According to the sources in the BJP, state saffron party president Swatantra Deo Singh could also be fielded in the Assembly elections. Besides some other senior leaders, who were current members of the state legislative council, are also likely to be fielded in the polls.

Adityanath, who is a member of the UP legislative council, may contest from Gorakhpur, his home town, or Ayodhya Assembly seat while Dinesh Sharma might be fielded from one of the assembly constituencies in Lucknow city. Adityanath represented the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat before his appointment as UP chief minister.

The present BJP MLA from Ayodhya Ved Prakash Gupta has offered to withdraw his claim from the seat in case the party decides to field Adityanath from there. ''I am more than ready to offer the seat (Ayodhya) to Yogiji,'' Gupta said.

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Sources said that deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, who too was a member of the state legislative council, could contest from the Kaushambi seat.

Kaushambi is Maurya's hometown.

''The presence of senior leaders in the electoral contest will certainly boost the morale of the party workers... It will send a positive message to the workers and will also have a positive impact on the assembly seats, which are nearby,'' said a UP BJP leader while speaking to DH.

The leader said that it would also control the prevailing groupism within the UP BJP. ''We expect all the factions to fight unitedly with the aim of ensuring victory to the party nominees,'' he added.