According to Bharatiya Janata Party officials, the party sent an investigation team just to win the seat and remained in the seat for six months. Their job was to provide regular feedback every step of the way.
The party had also sent a major team of IT cell leaders to create stories and memes revolving around Rahul Gandhi, sources said. According to leaders involved in the process, the party’s ground infrastructure, including booth committees and Panna Pramukh, has been working on securing seats for weeks, calling for votes through door-to-door campaigns.
There are five assembly segments under the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency: Bahlawan Reserved Seat, Karchandpur, Rae Bareli, Sareni and Unchahar. In the last elections, four of these segments, apart from Rae Bareli, were won by the SP. And Rabareri Singh, won by (then) Congress leader Aditi Singh, quickly joined the BJP.
Moreover, Unchahar MP Manoj Pandey had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Shah had even visited his home. BJP leaders said they had reached an agreement with Mr. Pandey.
Party leaders also said that Singh and the BJP’s candidate from the seat, Dinesh Singh, have been political opponents for some time and both the leaders were previously in different parties. In fact, Singh, who was hoping to win the ticket, was even seen campaigning hours before the ticket was announced. In a bid to stem the infighting, the Bharatiya Janata Party sent its leaders to pacify them, sources said.
“We are firing on all cylinders and there is a real possibility that for the first time since independence, we will not get a single seat in Congress in Uttar Pradesh,” said the leader quoted above.
