With all their experiments having failed to revive the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, the party leadership is finally turning towards leaders who are known for the saffron hues.
After a long hiatus, BJP MP Varun Gandhi, who happens to be one of the party’s biggest crowd pullers in Uttar Pradesh, has been brought back to campaign for the BJP in the on-going local bodies’ elections.
Mr Gandhi, it may be recalled, had not campaign in the state during the Assembly elections and even though there was a great demand for his meetings from party candidates, the leadership did not make any effort to persuade him either. As a result, the BJP tally went further down to 47 in the assembly polls.
“Our only hope for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls is Varun Gandhi and the party leadership should wake up and start smelling the coffee. Varun represents the aspirations of the youth and even the party cadres are looking for a change. It is time we set aside our egos and gave the young generation a chance,” said a BJP MLA.
Another firebrand Hindu leader who wields considerable influence in eastern UP is BJP MP mahant Yogi Adityanath. The mahant has been upset with the party leadership for putting Hindutva on the backburner and taking organisational decision without consulting him. His simmering anger made the party pay a heavy price in the assembly polls and the leadership seems to have realised its folly. The mahant has been persuaded to campaign for the party candidates in the local bodies’ polls.
Party workers see this as a welcome change.
“The day we decided to turn moderate and put Hindutva on the backburner, the BJP’s downfall began. Our leaders decided that hardliners like Varun Gandhi and Yogi Adityanath were an embarrassment to the party and pushed them behind. We strayed from the path of our ideology and have paid a heavy price for it. If the BJP starts projecting leaders like Varun Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi at the national level, no one can stop the BJP from marching back to power in 2014,” said a former state BJP president.