The BJP is busy assessing the depth of the roots of the lotus flower in the coming Assembly elections in UP. Reliable sources say that to explore more possibilities, the party has conducted two different public opinion surveys in states such as UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Assam and Bengal, but that the results of these surveys are not what will give the BJP leadership any relief. The BJP seems to be in a bad shape in all these states. There might be some hope in Assam, but there too regional satraps such as Badruddin Ajmal might undo all the hope it may have harboured. Amit Shah and the Sangh’s biggest worry is concerning UP; they feel that if the party loses in the state, it will lose hope of any political rejuvenation. UP’s saffron leaders have been asking for a long time that the party should present the face of the chief ministerial candidate. For this, the party has even conducted a survey to assess the popularity of its leaders. If sources are to be believed, the results are very surprising – Varun Gandhi has unanimously emerged as the favourite with 58 per cent, while Rajnath Singh was liked by only 21 per cent of the people. Other party leaders could not even get a decent fraction of the votes. Right after this, Amit Shah invited Varun Gandhi to meet with him, and both of them had a decisive meeting regarding UP.