Lucknow: The Bhartiya Janata Party will go to polls in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 without a chief ministerial candidate. Mr Om Mathur, BJP vice-president and in-charge of UP affairs, told a select group of reporters during his one-day visit, that the party would continue its election campaign on the basis of collective leadership.
It is noteworthy that in the recent Bihar elections, the BJP had not projected a chief ministerial candidate and this was cited as one of the reasons for the party's humiliating defeat. Thereafter, party leaders had suggested the projection of a chief ministerial candidate in UP.
The party high command has turned down the proposal and Mr Mathur said, “In Uttar Pradesh, we will contest on the basis of collective leadership and there will be no chief ministerial candidate. The strength of the BJP lies in its collective leadership and we will put that to tests here”.
However, he added, that parliamentary board of the party could change the decision if the need arises. Mr Mathur further said that it would be wrong to compare the situation in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. “The BJP indulges in ‘term politics’ which has no side effects.
Besides, the situation in Bihar and UP is different and will not impact each other,” he said. The BJP is also complacent on the issue of a Grand Alliance in UP. “Can a Grand Alliance like Bihar be forged in UP? When such a thing is not possible, why even waste time talking about it,” he said.
Significantly, senior party leaders like former MP Rajnath Singh Surya have already said that the party should present a face that will lead the campaign. He even suggested that union home minister Rajnath Singh should be projected as a chief ministerial candidate in the UP assembly elections.
Another BJP leader said, “Every party will have a CM candidate and the voters have a right to know who will head the government when they cast vote.”
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