Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday arrived in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh for a two-day visit to launch a membership drive, address the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) booth-level workers, and discuss strategy for the assembly elections.

Citing people aware of the matter, Hindustan Times reported that the home minister will have a series of meetings with the state BJP leadership to discuss the blueprint for polls that are due next year.

Also read: Centre reappoints Shaktikanta Das as RBI governor for three more years

Amit Shah is expected to focus on the constituencies in which the BJP lost narrowly in the 2017 assembly elections. In the 2012 polls, the BJP managed to win just 47 seats.

In 2017, Amit Shah was the BJP leader in charge of the Uttar Pradesh campaign, and he also headed the party’s general election campaign in 2014 when the BJP won 71 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Amit Shah is expected to discuss during his meetings with the state leadership the entry of some opposition leaders into the BJP and the possible replacement of some lawmakers with younger faces.

Also read: Aryan Khan bail: Suhana Khan shares childhood pictures with brother, Shah Rukh Khan

He will speak to party members at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, Lucknow in the afternoon, where he will be joined by former MLAs, MPs and other leaders. He will also pay a visit to the party’s state headquarters, where he will meet senior leaders and party functionaries.

There are concerns that the BJP will withhold tickets to several of its current legislators in Uttar Pradesh, and party insiders have hinted that Amit Shah will address the issue during his meetings.

Elections will be conducted in Uttar Pradesh in February and March 2022 to elect 403 members of the Legislative Assembly. The current assembly will function until May 14, 2022.

In 2017, the BJP won 312 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Samajwadi Party 47, Congress 7, the RLD 1, Apna Dal 9, the SBSP 3, and others 1.