BJP confident surgical strikes will help it in UP polls

Surgical strikes have boosted BJP's prospects in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections as the "political will" shown by the Modi government on the issue will resonate among the people, a top party leader said today.
National security will "obviously" be a poll plank, he said, underlining the "political will" shown by the Modi government in asking the army to cross the LoC to hit terrorist launch pads in Pak-occupied-Kashmir.
"Development and national security are definitely issues. Who did take this decision (of surgical strikes)? It is this government that showed the political will of crossing the border. The army carried this out but the decision was of the government," said the leader, who did not want to be quoted, in an informal interaction with reporters.

BJP will get a strong majority in the polls scheduled for early next year, he asserted.
The saffron party has been out of the power in the country's largest state for close to 15 years. Riding the 'Modi wave' it had swept UP in the Lok Sabha polls but is now facing stiff fight from two regional parties, ruling SP and BSP, which have ruled it by turn all these years.
The issue of surgical strikes will appeal across the caste divide in the state and, BJP leaders believe, will fetch them extra votes in a same manner as Modi's "developmental agenda" did in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.