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U.P. BJP chief quits Yogi ministry, Keshav may get panchayati raj too
After U.P. BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary resigned from his post of cabinet minister for panchayati raj in Yogi 2.0 government, the buzz is that Chaudhary’s portfolio could be allotted to deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is also the minister for urban development and the panchayati raj ministry is being seen as a natural extension of Maurya’s portfolio.
LUCKNOW: A day after taking charge as the first Jat chief of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, 55, resigned from his post of cabinet minister for panchayati raj in Yogi 2.0 government.
After Chaudhary’s decision, that is in line with the BJP’s ‘one person, one post’ policy, the buzz is that Chaudhary’s portfolio could be allotted to deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is also the minister for urban development and the panchayati raj ministry is being seen as a natural extension of Maurya’s portfolio.
Also, at the Centre, both rural development and panchayati raj ministries are under Union minister Giriraj Singh, a point that has accelerated the buzz around Maurya getting charge of panchayati raj too.
However, a senior officer said that nothing was certain as of now. “These are political decisions and so while the buzz is about a certain minister, nothing can be said till the name is announced. The final call would be taken by the chief minister, who is the head of the council of ministers,” this officer said.
On Tuesday, Chaudhary who has arrived with the reputation of being a simple, accessible leader, tweeted information about his expected resignation from the council of ministers.
“I have resigned from the cabinet today and would now discharge the responsibility of the state chief of the BJP.” Chaudhary tweeted while thanking the party leadership for guidance and leadership.
Interestingly, having resigned as minister due to the party’s ‘one person, one post’ policy, Chaudhary would now apply the same policy on several party functionaries who have become ministers in Yogi 2.0 government and hence would be replaced when Chaudhary sets up a new committee of office -bearers.
“Party vice presidents AK Sharma and Daya Shankar Singh have both become ministers. While Sharma is cabinet minister for urban development and power, Singh is minister of state (independent charge) for transport. Party general secretary JPS Rathore is minister of state for cooperatives. Narendra Kashyap, the head of the BJP’s OBC wing has been made the minister for backward classes’ welfare.
Throughout the day, there was a long queue of party functionaries, leaders and ministers meet Chaudhary.
On Monday, at Chaudhary’s welcome function held at the BJP headquarters in Lucknow, CM Yogi Adityanath had praised his performance as the panchayati raj minister.
“U.P. is a big state with 18 commissionerates, 75 districts, 826 development blocks, 3000 plus nyay panchayats, more than 58000 gram panchayats and over 1.10 lakh revenue villages. You would have seen during Bhupendra ji’s tenure as panchayati raj minister, the BJP won 67 of the 75 zila panchayat chief posts. Of the 826 development blocks, more than 650 block pramukhs were from the BJP. Most of the gram panchayats now have a BJP member as gram pradhans. Bhupendra Singhji’s tenure also saw the state taking a giant stride towards making the state ODF plus,” Yogi had said in Chaudhary’s praise.
As panchayati raj minister, Chaudhary earned laurels for constructing most toilets in rural areas as part of the government’s cleanliness mission.
