Shah to unveil BJP’s Mission 265-plus

LUCKNOW: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah is expected to unveil “Mission 265 Plus” in the state where the party has been out of power for nearly 14 years. The mission envisages the party going all out to win at least 265 assembly seats in the state in the 2017 polls.

Shah would be in UP for two days from February 24. He is set to arrive in Lucknow to inaugurate the new-look state headquarters on February 25.

With the selection of its new state chief in Uttar Pradesh having run into overtime, party leaders now expect an announcement any time. “It (the announcement) is overdue. Certainly we expect it over the next couple of days,” a party leader said.

Two days before Shah arrives in UP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to be in his Varanasi Parliamentary constituency. His visit is timed with the birth anniversary celebrations of dalit saint Ravidas.

He is also scheduled to visit Ravidas temple in Varanasi. Political observers see this as an attempt to edge closer to Dalits. The PM’s proposed visit on the occasion has led to the ruling Samajwadi Party, the opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as well as the Congress announcing programmes on Ravidas Jayanti on February 22. Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi had addressed a dalit conclave in Lucknow on Friday. Shah’s visit from February 24 is being seen as an extension of the same approach to win over politically important dalits and OBCs to the party fold. Unveiling a statue of dalit king Raja Suheldev and addressing a farmers’ rally would be on Shah’s agenda in Bahraich.

He is also scheduled to visit Balrampur to lay the foundation stone of the party’s local office there which has been named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who contested his first few elections from Balrampur.

After that Shah would arrive in the state capital to inaugurate the corporate-style party office in Lucknow; ‘hopefully’ with the new state chief by his side.