SHAH OF ACTION

anger nagging the BJP. What is certain, though, is that with the SP mired in family squabbles and Mayawati no longer a potent force, the BJP does fancy its chances of emerging as the singlelargest party in the state. Striking a more realistic note, though, a party leader says, “Our assessment is that we have crossed the 180mark, and are sure to get a good majority with the infighting in the SP and Mayawati’s image on the downslide. Our promise of good governance against the corruption, nepotism and goonda raj of our rivals is playing a big role in this transformation. The biggest factor in our favour is the clean image of the Modi government.” Underlying the BJP’s confidence is Amit Shah’s carefullydevised grand plan to win UP. A fourpronged endeavor, the plan aims to improve the party’s organisational strength; take the message of Modi’s development and propoor schemes to people right up to the village level; draft leaders and workers from other parties where the BJP itself is weak or absent; and stick to the blueprint of the traditional poll campaign till the village level and till the last day.

In keeping with the first part of the plan, Shah and Omprakash Mathur divided the state into seven zones, Kashi, Gorakhpur, Awadh, Paschim (West UP), Kanpur, Rohilkhand (Moradabad and Rae Bareli) and Bundelkhand, and held party workers’ meetings in each of them through May and June. Attended by 20,00025,000 workers, the zonal rallies had the scale of public meetings. Over 1.35 lakh workers registered in these meetings through a formal process. This was followed by the formation of booth committees of workers in 120,000 of the 135,000 electoral booths in the state. District party units too have been reorganised, keeping caste equations in mind in a state that is extremely sensitive on that front.

Each booth committee has nine party workers drawn from the major castes of the area. “They are like our electoral foot soldiers. They will play a major role on the final day,” says