Perhaps learning lessons from the Bihar elections where a high-pitched campaign on issue of beef and cow slaughter failed to stir the electorate, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttar Pradesh unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya has denied any plans to focus on the Ram temple issue in the Assembly polls of 2017.
“We want a bhavya (grand) Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya but it is not a political or electoral issue for us. It is an article of faith. We will ask for votes on development not on the name of Ram Mandir,” he told The Hindu in an interview.
He said this even as > Bajrang Dal activists have been arrested in Ayodhya and near Delhi for indulging in weapons training.
“The issue of constructing a Ram Temple is in our manifesto and remains one of our core issues, but it cannot be used for canvassing votes,” Mr. Maurya said.
Not only SP He denied that BJP’s national president Amit Shah had termed the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) as the main party to beat in the Uttar Pradesh elections as it could mean a communally polarised election, consolidation of a Hindu vote across castes and benefiting the BJP.
“ Adhyakshji (The president) has his own reasons for saying that the SP is the main party to beat, possibly because it is the party in power at the moment and there is great resentment against its unpopular rule among the people. It is good for a party such as that to go out of power. I however, equate SP and BSP. We will fight against both with equal strength,” he said.
“I have taken up the responsibility of the State unit only recently and while on most seats our main fight is with SP, the BSP too should be reduced to its 2014 (General Election) tally,” he said.
The NDA had swept the Lok Sabha polls in the State getting 73 seats (71 for BJP, 2 for ally Apna Dal) out of a total of 80; the BSP had failed to open its account.
‘No CM candidate yet’ He said that the party was still not decided on whether to project a chief ministerial candidate for these polls.
“There are many senior leaders in the state unit, and if the party’s parliamentary board feels as at any point that they require a chief ministerial candidate, they will take that decision. As of now, as party chief, my aim is to target 265 seats in the U.P. Assembly,” he said.
While Mr Maurya takes the SP and the BSP with utmost seriousness, he dismisses any challenge that the Congress might pose.
“As now they [the Congress] have got a poll strategist, Prashant Kishor to help them. He is a professional man, and such a person, I feel, will not have the capacity to cure whatever it is that ails them,” he said.
‘No alliances’ Mr. Maurya also denied that the BJP would be getting into any new alliances, including with the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal with whom there were talks till a few weeks ago.
“We will be going into the polls with existing NDA ally Apna Dal, and no others,” Mr. Maurya said.
