BJP trying to keep its house in order ahead of Milkipur bypoll
The party is giving top priority to this assembly seat; chief minister, four other ministers of the state government have been made in-charge of it
LUCKNOW The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to keep its house in order in Ayodhya before the bypoll to Milkipur assembly seat close on the heels of an internal rift that surfaced when two-time former BJP MP Lallu Singh refused to share dais at a press conference with a local block pramukh calling him a “mafia element”.
The press conference was related to the party’s ongoing membership campaign and this person (block pramukh) was sharing dais with BJP MLA from Ayodhya Ved Prakash Gupta and state general secretary of the party, Sanjay Rai. The incident was widely reported on all media platforms and the party’s state leadership also took note of the issue.
“A rift in Ayodhya unit of BJP is the last thing that the state leadership wants. The party is giving top priority to Milkipur assembly bypoll and chief minister Yogi Adityanath is incharge of this assembly segment,” said a senior BJP leader.
Apart from the CM, four other ministers of the state government have also been made in-charge of Milkipur assembly seat.
“In such a scenario, any rift in the Ayodhya unit of the party will harm the BJP in the Milkipur bypoll,” he added.
Lallu Singh is a veteran BJP leader who has represented Faizabad Lok Sabha twice- 2014 and 2019. He also represented the Ayodhya assembly segment five times in a row, from 1991.
Winning Milkipur will not be a cakewalk for the BJP, which won this seat only twice in 1991 and 2017.
State BJP spokesperson Hero Vajpayee said: “The BJP is going to win all 10 assembly seats in the bypolls. The party has given top priority to the Milkipur assembly and the chief minister is in-charge of this assembly segment.” He also denied any internal rift in the Ayodhya unit of the BJP.
The seat fell vacant after sitting SP MLA Awadhesh Prasad defeated BJP’s two-time sitting MP Lallu Singh in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll. The BJP aims to reverse the setback on the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat by winning Milkipur, while the SP aspires to retain its hold on the reserved seat that had generally been a tough nut to crack for the saffron party.
“The state leadership of the party does not want any more embarrassment in Ayodhya. The party cannot afford to lose the Milkipur bypoll after losing the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat,” said a BJP leader.
Nine assembly seats were vacated after the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha. These seats are Karhal, Katehri, Kundarki, Khair, Manjhwa, Meerapur, Milkipur, Phulpur and Ghaziabad Sadar.
Another seat, Sisamau, in Kanpur district was vacated following the disqualification of sitting SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who has been sentenced by a court in a criminal case.