Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinod Tawde wrapped up his two-day visit to Lucknow after a closed-door meeting with chief minister Yogi Adityanath at the party headquarters in the state capital on Monday.
Tawde’s Lucknow tour was primarily focussed on taking feedback from senior party leaders on the long-overdue expansion of the state cabinet, changes in the party’s state organisation and appointments to vacant posts in various commissions.
He also met both deputy CMs, senior office bearers of the state unit and three former state presidents during the visit. Tawde’s dossier on the political scenario in the state is expected to help the party’s central leadership make further decisions related to Uttar Pradesh where assembly polls are due early next year.
According to senior BJP leaders, Tawde sought the chief minister’s opinion on probable new faces for induction into the state cabinet.
During his interaction with the state party leadership, Tawde also tried to gauge caste scenarios in the state in view of the assembly polls.
He also tried to identify issues in the public domain that the state government has not addressed.
{{/usCountry}}He also tried to identify issues in the public domain that the state government has not addressed.
{{/usCountry}}“He (Vinod Tawde) will present his report to the party’s central leadership. Based on this report, we are expecting an expansion of the state cabinet and changes in the party’s state organisation,” said a senior BJP leader.
“Any expansion in the state cabinet will take caste equations in the state into consideration, as assembly polls are less than a year away,” said a BJP leader.
According to party insiders, consensus has been reached on the nomination of BJP office bearers to UP boards and corporations. The green signal has been given to names in the meetings with the CM and state party president.
“Emphasis will be laid on balancing caste and regional equations in the organisation before making any changes,” said a party leader.
Late on Sunday night, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya also met Tawde after he reached Lucknow from Agra.
Earlier on Sunday, Tawde held closed-door meetings, first with the party’s state chief Pankaj Chaudhary and state general secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh and then separately with deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak and former state chiefs Bhupendra Chaudhary, Surya Pratap Shahi and Ramapati Ram Tripathi.