Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the BJP Central Election Committee meeting for the Lok Sabha elections, at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, on March 20, 2019. But despite the buzz over Modi’s “strong” leadership, BJP sources said party leaders were not sure whether they would win seats merely by seeking votes in his name. The “winnability” criterion has led to the rare decision by the leadership to drop all the 10 sitting party MPs in Chhattisgarh. In Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP faces a stiff challenge from the BSP-Samajwadi Party combine, the party could drop as many as half its sitting MPs. Party leaders said they hoped to counter the impact of the alliance between Mayawati’s BSP and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party through careful selection of candidates.

Source: The Telegraph March 21, 2019 21:11 UTC