How Amit Shah is gearing up for UP Assembly elections

If you were to believe Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, the party's campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2017 has already begun. Addressing a public meeting in Bahraich, Shah attacked Rahul Gandhi and said the slogans raised by "seditious" elements in Jawaharlal Nehru University had the Congress vice-president's support. "He should explain his conduct to the people of India," Shah said. "Sonia Gandhi (Congress chief) should also clarify in Parliament whether she supported or opposed such slogans." The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) were also on Shah's radar. He said the BSP followed only the politics of caste; about the SP he commented that it should spend more time running central schemes for the benefit of the state. The poll battle has started.