LUCKNOW: The Bharatiya Janata Party state unit on Monday said the party will contest the 2017 assembly elections without announcing its chief ministerial candidate.
State BJP President Keshav Prasad Maurya told reporters in Bareilly that the BJP will contest the assembly elections on the issues of development and poor law and order in Uttar Pradesh.
He said there were many occasions in the past when the BJP did not name a chief ministerial candidate and fought the polls on various issues.
The chief ministerial candidates were named by the elected legislators in the past after elections, Maurya said.
“Our party is a very big party; all our workers are chief ministerial candidates. In case our party wins, the BJP leadership will name a chief minister,” he said, adding that the BJP will win 300 seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Maurya cited the examples of Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand where the party did not declare its chief ministerial candidates.
Both the Bahujan Samaj Party and the ruling Samajwadi Party have declared Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav as their chief ministerial faces respectively.
