BJP can deny ticket to 50 pc sitting LS members in UP

Lucknow, July 6 :  The two days review meeting of BJP president Amit Shah at Mirzapur and Agra has created a panic like situation among the 68 sitting MPs of the party in Uttar Pradesh after the national president expressed his annoyance over the performance of around 50 per cent of these MPs who are on the verge of being denied ticket during 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Mr Shah has openly expressed his dissatisfication over some of the MPs, during the meeting which concluded at Agra on Thursday evening after the reports presenting the ground reality by the Visataraks of the state BJP unit.
A senior BJP leader told UNI here on Friday that Shah was on a mission to get feedback from workers about the performance of MPs and MLAs during his two days meeting and he had taken congizance of the laxity of some of the MPs.
“However, the feedback has not been encouraging. Indications are that the party may not repeat around 50 per cent MPs and try new faces in the next Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
In 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP won 71 out of 80 seats and its ally Apna Dal bagged two seats. But in subsequent Lok Sabha bypolls, the party lost all three and its strength came down to 68 in UP.
The first indication of party’s strategy was evident in Mirzapur where MPs and MLAs were made to wait outside the meeting hall as Shah conferred with `vistaraks’ and RSS workers on Wednesday.
And when he met the MPs from Gorakhpur, Kashi and Awadh regions, the meeting was short and Shah used terse words to make his stand clear that ‘performance of many MPs was poor’.
The BJP boss followed the same trend when he met MPs of Kanpur-Bundelkhand, Braj and west UP in Agra on Thursday. There too, Shah showed his displeasure over performance of some law makers.
Reports from `Vistaraks’ would form the basis of selection of candidates for the next Lok Sabha elections and reports about some MPs were damaging in nature, BJP sources said.
One of the report presented in Mirzapur said that MPs were ignorant about policies of the Modi government. It further said that many of them did not participate in `Gram Chaupal’ and some who attended it, did not stay for the night as directed by the party.
Shah was also told that many law makers did not take part in voters’ list verification campaign that the party had taken up last month.
“The BJP president was visibly angry over the ground report he received from vistaraks. This was the reason that he made MPs to wait outside the meeting hall. Shah even said that these MPs were losing touch with people which was detrimental for the party,” the BJP source told this reporter.
Of late, the BJP has initiated a series of programme where leaders, MPs and MLAs were asked to visit villages. The Vistaraks were asked to prepare report of leaders attending such meets and where. These reports were regularly evaluated in party meetings.
Vistaraks are unknown faces of the party, who work at ground level along with RSS workers. “These Vistaraks played an instrumental role in the party’s victory in 2017 Assembly elections and their reports would matter for the 2019 polls too,” he said.
UNI.