By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday set poll preparations in motion by making senior ministers in-charge of states headed for Assembly elections next year. Dharmendra Pradhan, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Pralhad Joshi, Bhupender Yadav have been entrusted with the task of overseeing preparations in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Manipur, respectively. Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis will be in charge of Goa.
Gajendra Singh ShekhawatPradhan, who had looked after the party affairs of Bihar before becoming a minister, will be assisted by Union minister Anurag Thakur in UP, for which the saffron outfit has appointed key leaders in different regions. The BJP has lined up eight senior leaders for the state. They include Union ministers of state Arjun Ram Meghwal and Shobha Karandjale. Senior BJP functionaries like Saroj Pandey, Captain Abhimanyu, Annapurna Devi and Vivek Thakur are other co-incharges for UP.
The BJP has also created six zones for UP (Kashi, Braja, western UP, Avadh, Kanpur and Gorakhpur) which will be looked after by other senior functionaries. Shekhawat will be election in-charge for Punjab. He will be assisted by Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Meenakshi Lekhi. Senior leader Vinod Chawra is another member of the team. Joshi has been appointed election in-charge for Uttarakhand. He will be assisted by West Bengal MP Locket Chaterjee and party leader RP Singh.
Union environment minister Yadav will be the election in-charge for Manipur. Barring Punjab, the BJP is in power in all four states, which are slated for the Assembly elections in February-March next year.By announcing star-studded teams for each of these states, the saffron brigade has shown that it is leaving no stone unturned in order to get ready.
