Varanasi has been an important pit-stop in the BJP’s road to power in Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi district comprises eight Assembly constituencies — Ajagara, Pindra, Sevapuri, Shivpur, Varanasi North, Varanasi South, Varanasi Cantt and Rohaniya — all of which were won by the BJP and its then ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) in 2017.
This time around, the SBSP has snapped ties with the BJP, but the latter believes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent appeal that every household should reach, could recreate the 2017 success for the saffron party.
As top BJP leaders started arriving in Varanasi this week, News18.com spoke to the party’s national general secretary Arun Singh, who said the party had made promises in 2o17, this time campaigning on the basis of fulfilling those promises. Was being
Edited excerpt:
How is this election different from 2017? What are the challenges or is this going to be a good election for the party?
In the last elections we were making promises but in these elections we have already fulfilled those promises. A lot of work has been done for the poor, farmers and other sections of the society. We are preaching based on the work done. There is a huge difference in Uttar Pradesh. People are with Modi and Yogi. We will win more than 300 seats this time.
Akhilesh Yadav recently praised Swami Prasad Maurya and asked whether he had come to him in 2017 and spoke of CM Yogi Adityanath being an ‘anti-Dalit’.
Akhilesh Yadav speaks like an immature person. He doesn’t seem serious at all. He is always trying to rely on caste division. We have given food grains, salt, oil to 15 crore people. We did not discriminate. There is only one caste for us, that is poor or farmer. If the money was transferred to the bank accounts of farmers, then they had only one criterion that they should be farmers. We didn’t ask anyone’s caste. Same is the case with Jan Dhan account.
I want to ask what he did in five years. He was given full mandate (in 2012). Only mafia rajo persisted. People were living in panic. They are not getting even a single extra seat as compared to the last elections.
Akhilesh Yadav went to Ayodhya but did not go to Ram Mandir. He says that after the temple is ready, he will go to the temple with the family.
He should say who gave the order to shoot at Ram? bhakts, The Samajwadi Party ordered the shooting, while the Congress wanted date after date to prevent the Ram temple from being built. He was never in favor of the temple. I want to challenge them.
In his five years as CM, if he can show a single picture of him having or doing vermilion on his head Visit Any picture or evidence of participating in Janmashtami events in the Kashi temple or in Mathura and Vrindavan for that matter, or celebrating the festival of lights in Ayodhya. He feared losing Muslims as vote bank. He continued to appease the Muslims. Yogi, on the other hand, did all that Akhilesh could not.
Did Dimple Yadav have Muslim vote bank in mind when she spoke of ‘Jang Ke Rang’ and compared it to saffron colour?
Dimple Yadav does not understand anything. Agni, Saint, Yagya, were also the clothes of Swami Vivekananda. Bhagwa And the sunlight is also saffron. If she had known anything about color, she would not have made a statement. These are the people who have lost their land.
Top leadership coming to Varanasi and camping here?
The cadres feel excited when the PM campaigns. Modi To come Everything is here. PM is very popular.
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