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BJP to name Uttar Pradesh CM face after Navratra

Ahead of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to announce its chief ministerial candidate after Navaratri festival in October.

Sources said the announcement of the BJP’s CM face was delayed as it was yet to get a go-ahead from its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). While all other parties have come up with their CM face for the upcoming election, scheduled in early 2017, the saffron party is still in the process of evaluating its “best possible CM candidate”.

After Bihar debacle and before that a defeat in the national capital, Sangh has decided that the party should go to the polls with a CM face and also conduct a thorough check on the credentials of the leader to be projected as the party’s face. Therefore, the saffron party has been facing a dilemma on the choice in UP given its very complicated caste eco-system.

While most other political parties are engaged in the politics of minority plus a “committed” caste combination, BJP would be adopting counter-polarisation as their campaign strategy. This had helped them sway 2014 Lok Sabha Election. While Sangh is pushing for a fiery Hindutva campaign, the BJP is believed to have counseled a softer line.

Sangh wants to push Yogi Adityanath, who represents Hindutva and belongs to Rajput caste. On the other hand, BJP leadership is likely to prefer somebody from OBC community.

BJP is also said to be anxiously waiting for the caste census report, which could help it take the final call. The possibility of the report throwing up a caste-combination congenial to BJP prospects may prompt the Centre to make it public. This was the key issue RSS brass had raised in the last BJP-Sangh co-ordination meeting in Gujarat.

Senior BJP leadership of the state also feels that if the dilemma continues over the CM face for long and if BJP doesn’t get a green signal from Sangh, they will be requesting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to choose Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh as its helmsman.
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