With an eye on the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party is set to hold a crucial strategy meet in Ayodhya to woo the state's OBC voters.
The meet, state executive of OBC morcha, scheduled to take place on September 18 in Ayodhya will witness the participation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Ministers.
Apart from top state leadership, all OBC MPs and MLAs of the state too will participate in state executive to be presided over by BJP's National OBC Morcha president K Laxman.
With more than 50 per cent of OBC voters - including Yadav's and other OBC castes - the community is one of the most influential in the state. Though the party has enjoyed support from the community in previous polls it wants to ensure that the community continues to back the BJP in the 2022 Assembly polls.
The move comes as there is a belief that a lack of adequate political representation for the community may become an issue. Though the issue has been understood to be addressed in the recent expansion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers.
Several ministers from the OBC communities from the state were given berths in the expansion with the non-Yadav OBC category leaders, Kurmis like Anupriya Patel and Pankaj Choudhary, being adjusted.
Speaking to ANI, BJP's National OBC Morcha president K Laxman said that the Modi government has taken many steps to ensure that OBCs get proper representation.
"The government approved 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in medical education and has given proper representation to the community in Union Cabinet. We held Jan Ashirwad Yatra for those ministers across the country. No other Prime Minister or party has taken care of the political representation of OBCs like the Modi government did," added Laxman while confirming about state executive meeting of OBC morcha in Ayodhya.
Choosing Ayodhya too is a calibrated move. Ayodhya has become the epicentre of politics in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh with parties like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Assaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) holding rallies to woo their respective vote banks in the city.
The OBC Morcha national president said that the morcha will play a role in ensuring the smooth victory of the party in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls by mobilising its workers.
"It's a crucial meet which will be attended by CM and deputy CMs and will be followed by national executive meet of morcha in October. There will be sammelans for OBCs and how these are to be planned will be finalised in this meet," added Laxman.
Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled to take place early next year.
In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP won 325 seats out of a total of 403 Assembly seats. Samajwadi Party and its allies won 54 seats, BSP won 19 seats and others won 5 seats respectively.
( With inputs from ANI )
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