BJP pushes brand Modi in UP, Uttarakhand amid anti incumbency against state governments

Amid realisation that local leadership faces strong anti-incumbency in poll-bound states Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, BJP has gone for a big 'brand Modi' push months ahead of the assembly elections.

After telling UP electorates the victory of Yogi in 2022 is necessary for the win of Modi in 2024 general elections, Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday sought repeat mandate for the party in Uttarakhand flagging how “Modi brought road and rail infrastructure development projects worth Rs 85,000 crore to the state during his tenure”.

Stressing that Modi’s “heart aches for the poor” and he understands the problems of the poor, Shah flagged how electricity and cooking gas have reached every household across the country due to this and challenged the opposition Congress to show what it had done for the state during its time.

Read more: Shah seeks another term for BJP for continued development of Uttarakhand

“I had once said Uttarakhand was created by Atal ji and Modi ji will build it. My words have come true. The Modi-Dhami team will bring prosperity to every home," he said.

Battling performance issues and internal dissension in the party-led government BJP has had three Chief Ministers in the hill state in a year and the incumbent Pushakar Singh Dhami is considered a political greenhorn.

Hence the party is banking big on Modi’s charisma to win the hill state for it. Uttarakhand has in the last few years been changing governments alternatively. BJP has made a clean sweep in the state in 2019 Lok Sabha polls but this time a divided party state unit and the government facing Covid backlash is pitted against Congress led by a veteran Harish Rawat, the former Chief Minister. Hence the Modi push is understandable.

On Friday addressing a party event in Lucknow, Shah brought Modi directly into the picture for UP polls saying Yogi Adityanath has to become chief minister in 2022 for Narendra Modi to be sworn in as the prime minister again in 2024.

“When Modi Ji is the prime minister, he gives all that is required by Uttar Pradesh. The foundation of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which has to be won under the leadership of Modi Ji will be laid in the 2022 assembly elections here,” Shah said.

The Home Minister also flagged how “under the guidance of Modi Ji,” the UP Chief Minister has run the government for the poor, women, youth and the unemployed.

The BJP believes that PM Modi is still their best bait when they go in for elections, even in states. In UP, the Opposition has made a huge campaign around images of bodies buried in the sands of Ganga and later floating in the river water during the peak of the second wave of Covid pandemic this year.

While Priyanka Gandhi is steering the Congress campaign, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party is emerging as the principal challenger to the BJP with leaders from other parties flocking to SP. Even on Saturday seven MLAs joined it. One of them was from the BJP and six from the BSP, who were suspended earlier.

BJP believes There Is No Alternative (TINA) factor in favour of Modi at the Centre and while it will work in Lok Sabha polls, projecting Modi also yields gains to the party in states like, where it finds the going tough in post Covid-19 scenario.

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