BJP is likely to face a tough challenge in UP from a prospective alliance of the SP and the BSP. (File)
BJP president Amit Shah Wednesday appointed the party's in-charges for the Lok Sabha polls for 17 states, drafting Union minister Prakash Javadekar for steering the campaign in Rajasthan and Thawarchand Gehlot, another minister, for Uttarakhand.
Gordhan Zadaphia, a Gujarat leader and once a critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was made in-charge of the party in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Zadaphia, along with Dushyant Gautam, who is a party vice president, and Narottam Mishra, who is from Madhya Pradesh, will take charge of the politically crucial state, where the BJP is likely to face a tough challenge from a prospective alliance of the SP and the BSP.
BJP general secretaries Bhupender Yadav and Anil Jain have been assigned Bihar and Chhattisgarh respectively, according to a statement.
Rajya Sabha member V Muraleedharan and party secretary Deodhar Rao will be in-charge of Andhra Pradesh.
Mahendra Singh and OP Mathur will be in-charge of Assam and Gujarat respectively, the statement said.
The BJP has also appointed in-charges and co-incharges for several other states, including Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Punjab, Telangana and Sikkim among others.