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BJP on course to winning all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh: Yogi
Yogi Adityanath said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, setting newer records had become a habit for the BJP.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday declared the BJP’s twin wins in Rampur and Azamgarh as a “good omen” for 2024 Lok Sabha polls when, he said, the party was on course to winning all 80 Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh.
He made the assertion after double celebrations, first at his official residence and then at the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Lucknow.
“It is a win for extending PM Modi’s vision for development. The double win of the double engine government also holds out a far-reaching message for 2024 Lok Sabha elections and indicates that BJP is well on course to winning all 80 Lok Sabha seats from the state in the next general elections,” Yogi Adityanath said at the BJP office.
The chief minister, along with senior ministers, arrived at the party office soon after it became certain that the Samajwadi Party citadels, with sizeable dalit, backward and Muslim population, had fallen.
Yogi Adityanath said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, setting newer records had become a habit for the BJP.
“Both these Lok Sabha bypolls offered a challenge and by overcoming them, the party has sent a far-reaching message for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Under PM Modi’s leadership the BJP has been setting newer records,” he said while assuring that his government would continue to work for all sections of the society.
He also recalled how after sweeping the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the BJP dominated in the legislative council elections too.
In many ways, the BJP leaders said that it was like avenging the BJP’s defeat by the SP in the 2018 Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls.
Even before the official results were out, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said the win proved that the backwards, upset at his insult by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav inside the U.P. assembly and by Azam Khan during the campaign, rallied behind the BJP.
Maurya was referring to his spat with leader of the opposition Akhilesh Yadav inside the assembly last month.
During the campaign, Azam Khan had responded to Maurya’s electioneering in Rampur being that of a “loser” who had to be “accommodated” by the BJP on losing the Sirathu assembly seat.
Amid all this, the chief minister arrived at the BJP office where in the presence of other deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak, there was another mini-celebration of sorts.
Adityanath also credited the organisational support extended by UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev and general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal for the wins. The chief minister had campaigned in both these seats even as SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had stayed away from the campaign.
During his campaign, Yogi had urged the locals to ensure that Azamgarh didn’t become “atankwaad ka garh (a den of terrorist activities)” and had appealed to connect the district with development.
“Help Azamgarh in its journey for Aryamgarh,” he had said while campaigning for party candidate Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’, a Bhojpuri actor-singer whom the SP chief defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Azamgarh.
In Akhilesh’s absence, Nirahua triumphed over the SP chief’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav this time.
In Rampur, where the BJP had pitted former Azam Khan aide Ghanshyam Lodhi against SP’s Asim Raja, the ruling party won by 42,192 votes, bagging 52 per cent of the total votes.
In a post-result press conference, Azam Khan accused the BJP of misusing the official machinery.
“It’s a victory that has been converted into a defeat,” he said Rampur with his lawmaker son Abdullah Azam and SP’s Rampur district president Asim Raja by his side.
BJP CANDIDATES CREDIT MODI, YOGI WITH WIN
Both BJP candidates Ghanshyam Lodhi who won in Rampur and Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ who bagged the Azamgarh Lok Sabah seat credited the wins to “Modi-Yogi’s” development vision.
“These wins are for Modi-Yogi’s leadership and development. I was sad that while the people of the state were with PM and Yogi, Azamgarh was stuck behind,” said Nirahua who had during the campaign, rebutted the “outsider” tag and had said if he won, he would work for the people of Azamgarh.
