LUCKNOW: Taking a cue from 2014 Lok Sabha election when Gujaratis from all over the world had come to Varanasi to successfully campaign for the then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party is planning to rope in UP residents residing in Maharashtra to help it win UP assembly elections in 2022.
For the records, around 10% (1.45 crore) of Maharashtra’s population is from North India. They are either from Bihar or from Uttar Pradesh.
Already, Uttar Bharatiya Morcha, a wing of Maharashtra BJP, has begun mapping these UPites in Maharashtra.
Mostly from an influential class in Maharashtra, the morcha has decided to map these UPites and bring those willing to come to UP during assembly elections 2022.
Since these UPites residing in Maharashtra still have their roots in the native districts of Uttar Pradesh, they can be of great help to the BJP in UP during assembly elections, said Shweta Shalini, in charge of the morcha and spokesperson of Maharashtra BJP.
Shweta, who was born in Bihar, now claims herself to be Ayodhya’s daughter-in-law as she has married Ankush, an IT entrepreneur from Ayodhya.
The work has already begun, morcha president Sanjay Pandey told TOI and added that the morcha has taken up an assignment to prepare a database of the north Indians residing in Maharashtra.
The database is being prepared by filling google forms.
The north Indians residing in Maharashtra are being requested to fill up their details, including the native district along with the phone numbers, said Pandey, who is a native of Pratapgarh.
Once this process is complete, the morcha would prepare a database, Shweta said.
“From the database, another set of data of those willing to actively participate in the UP assembly elections would be prepared,” she added.
The UPites interested would be sent to their native districts during elections, Pandey confirmed.
He said the bigger plan is to build a bridge between party workers, North Indians in Maharashtra and the UP government.
“For this, we had a meeting with UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh on Thursday. He has assured to appoint a key person from the party to look into the problems at the native districts of the UPites residing in Maharashtra,” Pandey said.
This would not only help the party in UP during elections but would also encourage UPites residing in Maharashtra to provide all sorts of support to BJP during UP assembly elections, another member of the delegation said.
Initial response suggests UPites in Maharashtra are ready to help the BJP in UP assembly elections wholeheartedly, claimed Pandey.
Earlier, the delegation also met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and requested him to get additional 25 rooms constructed at UP Bhawan in Mumbai that can be used by the attendants of patients who come to visit Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital.
Pandey said the UP CM promised to construct a lodge for attendants from UP if the UP government gets a piece of land for the same.
