New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has kick-started a series of poll campaigns to win the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections by strengthening its appeal among the Muslim and OBC voters in the state. The two wings of BJP- Minority Morcha and OBC Morcha- have begun their preparations for the back-to-back meetings and door-to-door campaigns to seek votes for their party.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Jamal Siddiqui, president of BJP Minority Morcha, said, "We are focusing constituency-wise and identifying 100 strong workers who can influence at least 50 people. Hence, 5,000 people will add to our vote bank."
When asked about the political equation of BJP after Owaisi's AIMIM party's entry in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, BJP Minority Morcha president said, "Asaduddin Owaisi has a history of dividing society and breaking Hindu-Muslim unity by fuelling communal sentiments which is affecting the social harmony of the country."
Jamal Siddiqui claimed that Owaisi's party has no stability in Telangana and many leaders from his party want to join some other political party. He has only two MLAs in Maharashtra and five in Bihar, so they are unable to do anything in their constituencies.
BJP sources said by September-end, a working committee will be set up and around 44,000 party workers will go for door-to-door campaigns and inform the Muslims about the works and schemes launched by the BJP government since 2014.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, K. Laxman, president of BJP OBC Morcha said, "National OBC Morcha has decided to hold its State working committee meeting in Ayodhya on September 18, and has invited Union Ministers, national OBC leaders, UP chief minister and deputy chief ministers too."
The OBCs constitute more than 50 percent of the total electorate of Uttar Pradesh. Notably, in July, BJP had inducted seven OBC ministers from Uttar Pradesh in the Modi 2.0 cabinet and among them three Kurmi leaders were -- Anupriya Patel, B.L. Verma and Pankaj Chaudhary. Kurmis are the second-largest OBC community after Yadavs in UP and after the demise of Samajwadi Party leader Beni Verma, a large section of this community are backing the Apna Dal (BJP alliance).
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