UP to top developmental index by 2022: BJP chief

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Saturday said Uttar Pradesh will top developmental charts by 2022 when the state elects the next assembly.

Speaking at the 'Yuva Udghosh' programme of the party in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP President said the fact that 17,000 first-time voters were getting bonded to the party during the event showed the expression of solidarity and faith in the BJP.

Addressing the gathering of young voters at the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Shah said the BJP now has governments in 19 states and was serving 80 per cent of the country and boasted of a base of 11 crore workers.

He termed the BJP not a party but a "movement" committed to creating a new India.

Shah said it was possible only in a party like the BJP where an ordinary booth worker could rise through the ranks to become the party President and a tea-seller could become the Prime Minister.

Earlier, tight security was put in place before the arrival of Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at the temple town, as Congress workers had distributed pamphlets only a day earlier, alleging Shah's hand in the death of Central Bureau of Investigation Special Judge Justice B.H. Loya.

More than four dozen youngsters, mostly from the Youth Congress, were detained by the police before the rally.

People, including journalists, sporting black clothes were barred from entering the venue as police feared they could be misused to protest.

Former Congress legislator Ajay Rai, who unsuccessfully contested against Modi from Varanasi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, staged a sit-in against the BJP chief.

Congress workers alleged that Shah was not only behind Justice Loya's sudden death but also billed him 'tadipaar' (one banished by court from entering Gujarat).

--IANS

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