BJP may decide on CM candidate for UP at national executive meet: Mathur

BJP may take a decision on declaring its chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls at its national executive meeting to be held here next week, party’s national vice-president Om Prakash Mathur said today.

“A decision may be taken at the national executive meeting on June 12-13 as to whether or not the party will be going to the UP assembly polls with a chief ministerial candidate.

“Initially the plan was to fight the elections on the plank of the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  However, the option of declaring a CM candidate has also been kept open,” Mathur told reporters.

Mathur, who is also in-charge of party affairs in UP, said “BJP is keen to repeat in 2017 its handsome performance during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when we contested 78 out of 80 seats in the state and won 71. Assembly polls in UP will obviously be the main focus of the two-day meeting though other issues concerning the party will also be discussed”.

He, however, declined to comment when asked about names of leaders that might be doing round for the party’s chief ministerial candidate.

The BJP national vice-president was here to take stock of preparations for the national executive meeting, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah, party Chief Ministers and others.