Lucknow, Jan 23, 2023, IANS

Lucknow, Jan 23 (IANS) As the countdown begins for the general elections next year, major political players in Uttar Pradesh are beginning to make claims and counterclaims about the poll outcome.

Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary said that his target for 2024 would be to win all 80 seats in the state.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to be re-elected as the Prime Minister and for this I call upon my spirited cadre to ensure that BJP wins all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 LS polls from UP," he said.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may taste defeat in all 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"The party that claimed to rule for the next 50 years, is now counting its days. Its national president should visit two medical colleges in the state and he will understand how many seats they are going to win," said Yadav.

To underline his point, Akhilesh referred to the BJP's recent losses in Mainpuri Lok Sabha and Khatauli Assembly bypoll in Muzaffarnagar -- both west UP seats where the BJP is up against the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal combine.

The BJP had won 71 seats from UP in 2014 Lok Sabha polls and in 2019, despite the SP-BSP alliance, the party had swept the state with 64 seats.

In 2019, there were 16 seats that the BJP failed to win in the state.

Of these, the BJP has since won two in the Lok Sabha bypolls in June. The remaining 14 Lok Sabha seats are on the party's radar now.

"It means that we have to work harder and our cadres will ensure that we win all 80 seats this time," said Bhupendra Chaudhary.