BJP pins hopes high ahead of UP elections

New Delhi - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sounded a note of confidence saying that they were hopeful of a good showing in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls scheduled in February next year.
 
Talking to reporters here, senior party leader Venkaiah Naidu claimed  that the BJP's popularity in the state had grown.
 
"We will get good results in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has increased in popularity all this while. We are expecting a good result," he added.
 
Naidu further said that the BJP would not get into any pre-poll alliances in the upcoming Assembly polls in five states, except for Punjab where it already has an alliance with the regional Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
 
Meanwhile, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said that the Congress party -led Central Government's tenure lacked the principles of good governance, citing the furore over the creation of a state of Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh.
 
"We cannot cite today's government as (an example of) good governance. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee tenure, he decided that three new states would be created, - Uttarakhand out of Uttar Pradesh,

Jharkhand out of Bihar and Chhattisgarh out of Madhya Pradesh came into being. There were no agitations anywhere, but today, we are witness to the agitations and conflict over the creation of a single state, Telangana," Gadkari said.
 
The BJP holds 51 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, and has not held power in the state since 2002.
 
Various political outfits are leaving no stones unturned in trying to catch the attention of the voters ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls.