Uttar Pradesh BJP to start 5 yatras from Dec 19

Senior BJP leaders will flag off the yatras from Bijnor in western Uttar Pradesh, Mathura in Braj, Jhansi in Bundelkhand, Ambedkar Nagar and Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The sixth yatra will be launched from Ghazipur, also in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Vidya Sagar Sonker, the in-charge of these yatras, said: "These yatras will cover all 403 Assembly constituencies of the state. We are connecting with the people and will tell them about our government's achievements."

The party has not yet announced the leaders who will flag off these yatras.

But sources said that BJP chief J.P. Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, along with state party chief Swatantra Dev Singh and the state's election panel head Dharmendra Pradhan, will flag off the yatras.

Meanwhile, a joint rally of the BJP and its ally Nishad party is scheduled to be held In Lucknow on December 17.

Nishad party leader and MLC Sanjay Nishad said that Shah will attend the rally in which an announcement regarding providing reservation under the scheduled caste (SC) category to Nishads, members of the riverine community, is expected.