Lucknow, Sept. 14 -- With around five months left for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the BJP are working to keep the campaign focused on governance, development and welfare, even as youth dissatisfaction, caste tensions and the Samajwadi Party's PDA strategy pose fresh challenges.
The BJP's concerns are rooted partly in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, when the party's tally in Uttar Pradesh fell to 33 seats while the Samajwadi Party emerged as the state's largest party with 37 seats.
The result gave the Opposition an opportunity to challenge the BJP's social coalition that had helped it win the 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections.
For Yogi, therefore, the 2027 contest will not only be a referendum on the state government's performance. It will also test whether the BJP can retain its support among non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits while keeping its upper-caste base firmly behind the party.
The employment question is one of the areas where the government is trying to get ahead of possible discontent. The launch of the Uttar Pradesh Corporation for Outsourcing Services, or UPCOS, earlier this month is being seen as part of the effort to provide a more structured framework for around 3.5 lakh outsourced employees and their families.
The government has also announced that one lakh young people will receive appointment letters within six months. It claims that more than 9.3 lakh jobs have been provided during Yogi's tenure.
Large recruitment drives in the police and education departments and the Mukhyamantri Yuva Udyami Vikas Abhiyan are among the measures being highlighted by the government.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.