BJP will win UP with more seats from west: Union minister

Varanasi: The BJP party will return to power in Uttar Pradesh after the 2022 elections, winning more seats in western UP than before, with a cumulative 300 seats' majority in the state Assembly, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday. Further, he claimed that the party has the support of positive public emotion after the Yogi Adityanath government's actions against "gundaraj" and "mafiaraj", development and public welfare schemes, PTI reported.

Thakur alleged that when previous governments sheltered anti-social elements, many fled the state. But Adityanath administration ended those, and those fled are returning now, he said. Unlike during Samajwadi Party's regime, there are no atrocities against women in the state and "no one can dare look at women in UP with a bad intention under Adityanath government." Now women could be out of their homes at any hour thanks to the current UP government. Though Congress is currently leading a women-centred campaign here, Sonia Gandhi had held hands before with those who harassed and mistreated women, he said.

On rumours of resentment in the Brahmin community, Thakur said that the BJP government, national or state, is run by the principle of "sabka saath sabka vikas" (collective effort, inclusive growth). The UP government employed 4.5 lakh youth in the government sector and three lakhs to contractual jobs irrespective of caste.

On repealed farm bills, he said that the three bills were introduced in the interest of farmers, but the government couldn't make them understand properly due to some "deficiency". Many supported the party even before the repeal of the farm bills, saying he had witnessed people's enthusiasm at Meerut and Saharanpur as proof. He cited the same to assert that BJP will win large in western UP.

Out of the 403 UP assembly seats, 76 are from the western region, and BJP had won 66 of them in 2017