The BJP leadership is meeting in Noida on Wednesday with the revival of the party's fortunes in Uttar Pradesh in mind. The state assembly elections which are to be held in about 18 months from now could  prove to be party president Nitin Gadkari's acid test. The turnaround challenge before Gadkari lies not just in rejuvenating the party, filling up the vaccum in the state leadership with appropriate functionaries but also in projecting the BJP as a preferred alternative in the state with BSP in power and SP as a contender.

Senior party members of the party like former BJP national president Rajnath Singh, BJP state president Surya Pratap Shahi, national vice-president Kalraj Mishra and Vinay Katiyar are attending the meeting to draw up a strategy. A plan of action is likely to be arrived at the meeting. The party will also review the progress of Gadkari's grassroots campaign "Gaon Chalo Abhiyan".

According to sources in the party, the January meeting is an assertion of Gadkari's plan to focus on the party's agenda from the beginning of the year.

One of the senior party leader said that for the BJP there are indications that  bahmins (9 percent of the UP electorate), a large section of which had aligned with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) during the last assemble polls in 2007, may be returning to saffron party. With a new team in place, the BJP will have to plan all its campaigns and strategies to get closer to the people and increase its vote share, he added.