Will Win 2022 UP Polls With More Seats Than in 2017, Says BJP’s State V-P Credited With ‘Vibrant Gujarat’

We will win the 2022 elections in Uttar Pradesh with an even bigger number of seats than in 2017, says BJP’s Uttar Pradesh vice-president and a man much in focus, AK Sharma, in an exclusive conversation with News18.

Sharma, a former Gujarat-cadre IAS officer who served both in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s PMO as well as CMO, had quit service earlier this year to become an MLC in UP. There was much speculation of him getting a top ministerial job in Uttar Pradesh before he was appointed as the party’s state-vice president in June. Since then, he has been on a whirlwind tour of the state, meeting people.

“This was my own thinking and idea that since the last three months, I have been going in various districts and regions of Uttar Pradesh and meeting various people. This is basically connecting with the people, to understand people and that people understand me,” Sharma told News18 on Monday after brain-storming with a large group of businessmen and industrialists in Greater Noida.

Sharma avoids the media mostly and this is perhaps his first conversation at some length with a journalist since becoming the BJP state vice-president. Monday was Sharma’s third day of meetings in Noida, Ghaziabad, and Bulandshaher as he held Brahmin Sammelans, met intellectuals and party workers.

“I am trying to understand the circumstances and situation in various areas and to see the development works which have been carried out. This was my personal effort. In this effort, the party also motivated me that I should go and understand things. That process is on. Intellectual meetings are also going on and the BJP is also doing it. We are trying to understand the people’s expectations and trying to fulfill them to the best of our effort,” Sharma told News18 on Monday.

Ask him about his Brahmin outreach at a time when Mayawati is championing the cause of Brahmins in UP, Sharma refuses to be drawn into the politics. “I am meeting Brahmin Samaj, Pichda Samaj and Sarv Samaj (all communities). I have interacted with people of all communities and this is my effort too,” Sharma says. Ask him about the challenge from the Samajwadi Party, and Sharma says: “I am sure we will win better than even in the last elections. We will get even more seats this time.”

Sharma also told News18 that he was sharing with people his experiences while serving the government. “There were many best practices, around the world which I have seen and I have witnessed so I wish and I hope that Uttar Pradesh in general, and such industrial hubs and management centres in particular (in Noida and Greater Noida) can adopt and employ them. I am a small learner but I am trying to share those practices with everyone, be it my family or co-workers” Sharma says.

There is a bee-line of people, from industrialists and party pradhans from villages, to get a picture clicked with Sharma as he is leaving. Earlier, a speaker had introduced him to the industrialists as the “person who brought Vibrant Gujarat and will now bring Vibrant Uttar Pradesh”.

Sharma’s Advice to Industrialists

“Don’t think about becoming a clerk, rather become an entrepreneur” — Sharma earlier had this advice while speaking to a packed hall of industrialists of Greater Noida. He pointed out that he belongs to UP and so knows that people in UP are not entrepreneurial in nature like the people in Gujarat.

“We in UP first think of getting jobs. Our first choice is not entrepreneurship. When I was in the IAS, people would come to me and say get us jobs of a clerk. I used to say – why don’t you start a trade or a small business? But people did not heed to me as they did not want to take risks,” Sharma told the industrialists.

He said there should be at least “four Noidas” in all corners of the state, including in East UP, as Noida is an example of entrepreneurship. Sharma also served as the MSME Secretary before. “We don’t think big, that is our problem. When will our businesses say they want to be Number one in the world? I have sat with all global companies in the last two decades — why can’t we have companies which are World number 1? Why Google and Microsoft should only be in the US?” Sharma asked.

He also advised industrialists to not complain about their country’s systems when they go abroad as it discourages foreign investors to come here. Some honest words are said by the industrialists to Sharma though. “The attitude of the bureaucrats in the government is such that the BJP will lose the elections. We know that you have come to listen to us as the elections are near,” one of them said.

Sharma simply offers a smile and a compassionate ear.

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