Lucknow: After an organisational rejig in its Uttar Pradesh unit, BJP is set to line up visits by senior netas, including party president Nitin Nabin and national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, to galvanise the organisation ahead of the Assembly elections early next year.Nabin, who recently visited Punjab and Uttarakhand, is expected to hit UP turf in July to take stock of the party’s poll preparedness.Sources said UP weighs high on priority for BJP as its eyes the third consecutive term in the state.“His (Nabin’s) visit will set the tone for the party to devise a comprehensive strategy to take on the opposition,” said a state BJP neta, affirming that visits by other senior party members and Union ministers would be subsequently planned accordingly.Sources said Nabin’s visit will be designed to build an impenetrable organisational structure at the grassroots. The BJP chief may meet organisational functionaries as well as UP ministers and party MLAs to gauge the ground-level preparations.As one of the youngest to ever head the BJP, Nabin, sources said, has been focusing on transitioning the state unit’s strategy towards intense booth-level management and micro-mobilisation to secure the politically vital state like UP.A senior UP BJP neta said the party has been looking to devise a strategy to neutralise opposition narratives besides weaponising the welfare delivery system of the Modi govt down to the last mile.Sources said the BJP’s concern indicates that it sees the opposition becoming more aggressive. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has been vociferously attempting to frame the BJP around unemployment, caste census demand and alleged governance inequities. Likewise, its ally Congress and smaller regional outfits have been attempting issue-based consolidation.Analysts said the BJP also planned to line up the visits by its high-ranking netas to evaluate the coordination between the Yogi Adityanath govt and the party’s organisational cadre. As a matter of fact, BJP’s biggest challenge in long-governed states has not always been opposition strength, but gaps between ministers, legislators and party workers.
