BJP may use Adityanath as star campaigner to clinch Gujarat, Himachal

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 27

With Uttar Pradesh under its belt, BJP's new star campaigner Yogi Adityanath is expected to be given the responsibility of wooing the electorate in the next states in line, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, especially in the latter — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state where the saffron party is facing deep challenges, including a massive anti-incumbency of almost two decades.

Adityanath, who BJP sources insist was always party chief Amit Shah’s first choice for the top post in UP and was therefore given “facilities and freedom” in the run-up keeping that in mind,  will also be expected to deliver Gujarat—where the party has set itself a target for achieving "at least two-third majority" in the 182-member Assembly.

Aiming to replicate Uttar Pradesh in a state where it is fighting years of anti-incumbency, the saffron party is also confronting several other challenges. The 2017 polls will be the first time since past many years that the BJP will be contesting without the direct advantage of Narendra Modi as chief minister candidate.

Although the Prime Minister is expected to lead from the front in Gujarat as did elsewhere, with Congress and Aam Aadmi Party breathing down its neck and Patel community’s firebrand leader Hardik Patel, BJP can do with some extra oomph. And this is where Yogi Adityanath—BJP’s rising face of young Hindutva politics — assumes importance.

As chief minister of India’s most populous state, Adityanath is in the league of the BJP’s top-rung national leaders. Some analysts put his star value higher than all the other party chief ministes and also predict a national-level future for him.
However, it will not be easy task for BJP to achieve the target of 150 seats it has set for itself in the state. Apart from a not-so-good performance at the panchayat level, the anger among Patels over reservations, episodes of farmers’ suicides and attacks on Dalits are among problems it has to overcome to retain the state.