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Amid rumblings in UP BJP, Yogi, both deputy CMs in Delhi for meetings
Besides attending a NITI Aayog meeting on Friday, Yogi Adityanath will also attend a chief ministers’ conclave being held on Saturday and Sunday
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak on Friday reached New Delhi where they are set to attend various meetings in the backdrop of ongoing rumblings in the state BJP.
Besides attending a NITI Aayog meeting on Friday, Yogi Adityanath will also attend a chief ministers’ conclave being held on Saturday and Sunday. Maurya and Pathak will also attend the CM’s conclave there. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over both the meetings.
Maurya has stayed away from some of the state cabinet meetings while both Maurya and Pathak have been conspicuous by their absence at the meetings of their respective Prayagraj and Lucknow divisions that Yogi convened to review the BJP’s poor performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Yes, the chief minister has reached New Delhi to attend the NITI Aayog governing council meeting and the CM’s conclave. He will leave for Lucknow on Sunday afternoon,” said an official functionary aware of the development. “U.P’s issue may come up for discussion on Saturday evening on the sidelines of CM’s conclave or separately,” said another functionary aware of the development.
This is the first time that the chief minister will be attending any BJP meeting in New Delhi after the announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He may meet the PM on the sidelines of the two programmes or may have a one-on-one meeting with him amid the ongoing rumblings in the BJP following the party’s below par performance in the 2024 polls. Maurya has already met senior BJP leaders, including the party’s national president JP Nadda, and apprised him of the developments in the state unit, in New Delhi soon after the BJP’s state executive committee meeting held in Lucknow on July 14.
As by-election to 10 UP assembly seats will be another major challenge to the state BJP, the party wants to ensure smooth coordination between the “Sangathan” (organisation) and “Sarkar” (government) in Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier this month, Maurya’s assertion that the Sangathan was, is and will remain greater than the Sarkar triggered speculation that all is not well within the state BJP.
