Amid rumblings in BJP, unfazed Yogi asks ministers to brace for assembly bypolls
Adityanath held the meeting at his residence in the absence of his two deputies - Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak - who were not members of this ‘Group of 20-30’ assigned the task of making ground to win the bypolls
LUCKNOW Amid speculations that all was not well in the state BJP after the Lok Sabha poll debacle, an unfazed chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday held a meeting with a group of 20-30 ministers who had been tasked to prepare the party for bypolls to 10 UP assembly seats.
The CM held the meeting at his residence in the absence of his two deputies - Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak - who were not members of this ‘Group of 30’ assigned the task of making ground to win the bypolls.
Maurya, who launched a veiled attack on his own government at the BJP’s state executive committee meeting here on Sunday, was in New Delhi meeting senior party leaders in the backdrop of the apparent ‘Sangathan versus Sarkar’ (organisation versus government) rift.
The CM exuded confidence as he asked the ministers about their observations/feedback in the bypoll constituencies and told them categorically to work there in a way that leads to the BJP’s victory in all the 10 assembly seats. He apparently wanted to give a message that he was busy working for the party when his detractors were upping the ante against him.
He also directed ministers to boost the morale of booth level workers and back candidates with a clean image. The floods in the state, which had so far affected more than 700 villages across 17 districts, were also discussed during the meeting, said sources.
The meeting came weeks after the Lok Sabha elections in which the ruling BJP performed poorly. The party was reduced to 33 seats, a drop of 29 seats from 2019. The INDIA bloc gained ground with the Samajwadi Party (SP) securing a win on 37 seats, a jump of 32 seats as compared to 2019, and the Congress winning on six seats.
“The CM held a meeting and told the ministers that the BJP must win the by-polls to all the 10 assembly seats in the same way we won Azamgarh and Rampur bypolls. We are sure we will win all the 10 assembly seats,” said minister for finance Suresh Khanna, who along with minister of state for excise (independent charge) Nitin Agarwal, was made in-charge of Sisamau assembly constituency of Kanpur.
Others present in the meeting included ministers Surya Pratap Shahi, Chaudhary Laxmi Narayan, Swatantra Dev Singh, Rakesh Sachan and Anil Rajbhar.
The BJP had wrested Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats from the Samajwadi Party in the bypoll held in June 2022. Yogi Adityanath referred to the BJP’s 2022 Lok Sabha bypoll victory to convey to his ministers that the SP that lost in its strongholds of Azamgarh and Rampur could be defeated in 2024 bypoll as well.
“We all have once visited the constituencies assigned to us. So, this was basically a review of these visits to our respective constituencies,” said a minister.
“On an average, three ministers have been allotted one of the 10 bypoll constituencies though some have two or four ministers. This was the first review that the chief minister conducted after deploying the ministers for the bypoll constituencies. He enquired about the problems of the people, issues in the constituencies and the percentage of voters of different constituencies. He has asked ministers to visit the constituencies regularly,” said another minister.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting, Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh, who earlier worked as UP BJP president, said the BJP would win all the 10 assembly seats. Asked to comment on the “Sangathan versus Sarkar” controversy, he said both the party organisation and the government were important.
Another minister said besides the discussions on the bypolls, some departmental presentations were also made before the ministers.
It may be mentioned that the 10 UP legislative assembly seats that would go to bypolls include, Katehri (Ambedkara Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhwa (Mirzapur), Khair (Aligarh), Phoolpur (Prayagraj), Kundarki (Moradabad) and Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar).
The Samajwadi Party held five of these 10 seats while the remaining five were with the BJP (including those held by the RLD and the NISHAD Party). Barring Sisamau, all other nine seats fell vacant following the election of MLAs as MPs there. Sisamau assembly constituency had fallen vacant following disqualification of SP’s Haji Irfan Solanki who was awarded seven-year imprisonment in a case by MP/MLA court.
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