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On second Uttar Pradesh visit in 20 days, top BJP man meets RSS leaders
BJP national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh was accompanied by senior leaders during the closed-door meeting at the Sangh office in Lucknow’s Nirala Nagar
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, who is on his second visit to Uttar Pradesh in 20 days, spent considerable time meeting Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leaders at the Sangh office in Lucknow’s Nirala Nagar on Monday.
The development came amid the buzz that the meeting was on collecting feedback from the Sangh about addressing “internal strife” in the ruling party, barely nine months before the assembly elections.
The party’s national vice president and UP in-charge Radha Mohan Singh, state BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, state general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal (all core committee members) accompanied Santhosh during this crucial closed-door meeting.
Later, Santosh also visited chief minister Yogi Adityanath for another round of confabulations that stretched till late in the evening.
The BJP, party leaders said on condition of anonymity, is now planning a series of high-profile joining of leaders from other parties. For instance, former Congress leader Jitin Prasada recently joined the party in Delhi. He has since arrived in UP amid the buzz that he would be given an important assignment, ostensibly to keep the nearly 10 per cent Brahmin voters in UP happy.
Four nominations for the state’s legislative council are opening up in July. Jitin Prasada could be among the party’s pick though a final decision on whether to make him an MLC or capitalise on his appeal in the Shahjahanpur-Lakhimpur Kheri belt by making him contest the 2022 UP assembly polls from there hasn’t been made yet.
After falling behind the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the first leg of the three-tier rural polls, the party now also wants to make an impression in the zila panchayat chairpersons’ elections scheduled on July 3. The BJP is expecting a straight contest from the SP. The BJP frontline leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief JP Nadda, are expected to begin touring the state from July onwards and these high-profile visits too were subject of discussion, party leaders said.
Before going into the meeting with Adityanath, BL Santhosh again tweeted in the chief minister’s praise, basing it on a tweet by the party’s UP unit that said due to Yogi’s leadership, Samsung moved its display manufacturing unit from China to Noida.
“Congratulations CM @myogiadityanath and (industry minister) @satishmahanaup,” Santhosh tweeted. This was his third tweet in praise of Adityanath over the last 20 days, indicating that the party would back him to lead the party in the assembly polls.
Before arriving here, BL Santhosh, a senior RSS leader currently essaying a crucial role in the BJP, had been part of a meeting featuring top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi.
Days before Santhosh’s second visit, both the government and the party began addressing some long-pending issues, an exercise understood to have been undertaken on the key BJP leader’s nudge.
The government, after seeking details of vacancies in state corporations and boards, has only just accommodated Dalit and backward cadres after revamping the State SC/ST Commission as well as the State Commission for Backward Classes. The process is expected to continue with more cadres likely to be placated in the election year, BJP leaders said.
The party’s state unit also made long-pending announcements, naming leaders to head party’s various wings, revamping its IT, social media and media panels, appointing two state-level functionaries. The moves included the much talked about appointment of former IAS officer-turned-BJP MLC AK Sharma, who has worked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as vice-president of the UP BJP.
Sharma belongs to Mau in the Purvanchal belt of east UP.
Before Sharma’s appointment, state BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh was summoned to Delhi for a quick consultation with party chief JP Nadda.
