BJP appoints election in-charges, Dharmendra Pradhan to look after UP

New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) The BJP on Wednesday announced election in-charges and co-incharges for poll bound states. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was appointed poll in-charge for the high stake Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The BJP also appointed in-charges for six regions of Uttar Pradesh.

Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Pralhad Joshi and Bhupender Yadav were appointed poll in-charge for Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur respectively.

For Uttar Pradesh the saffron party also appointed seven elections co-incharges who will work with Pradhan. They are union ministers Anurag Thakur, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Annapurna Devi, Shobha Karandlaje, MPs Saroj Pandey and Vivek Thakur, and former Haryana minister Captain Abhimanyu.

The BJP also appointed in-charges for six regions of Uttar Pradesh and they are MP Sanjay Bhatia (Western Pradesh), MLA in Bihar Sanjiv Chaurasia (Braj), national secretary Y Satya Kumar (Awadh), national co treasurer Sudhir Gupta (Kanpur), national secretary Arvind Menon (Gorakhpur) and Sunil Oza (Kashi).

Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Meenakshi Lekhi were appointed election co-incharge for Punjab along with Lok Sabha member Vinod Chavda. Lok Sabha member Locket Chaterjee and national spokesperson Sardar R P Singh have been made election co-incharge for Uttarakhand while Union minister Pratima Bhoumik and Assam minister Ashok Singhal have been made election co-incharge of Manipur.

Assembly polls will be held February-March next year in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa. The saffron party has announced poll in-charges and co-incharges for four states and will soon make the appointments for Goa. Except Punjab, the BJP is in power in the other four states and is leaving no stone unturned to win a second term in all these four states.

The BJP will contest the Punjab assembly polls alone after one of its oldest alliance partners, the SAD, broke away last year over the new farm laws.