E-Paper
BJP eyes 'dissidents' in SP-BSP, may axe about 30 sitting MPs
Soon after the SP-BSP alliance on Thursday gave a party-wise breakup of constituencies the two intended to fight together in the state, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party began identifying the “likely dissidents” in these parties in each of these seats.
Soon after the SP-BSP alliance on Thursday gave a party-wise breakup of constituencies the two intended to fight together in the state, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party began identifying the “likely dissidents” in these parties in each of these seats.
BJP leaders, who also played up SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Thursday statement disapproving of the alliance, said, “Several dissidents in both the SP and the BSP have already started contacting us.”
Senior BJP leaders also got busy discussing feedback it has received from party cadres and in-charges about BJP’s own the ground situation in the state.
“There is a possibility of the party replacing at least 30 of the present sitting 69 MPs,” confirmed a BJP leader close to chief minister Yogi Adityanath. BJP had won 71 seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls in UP but had since lost Gorakhpur and Phoolpur seat to the Samajwadi Party in the by-elections. At least two party MPs have indicated their unwillingness to contest the LS polls while the “report card” of a few others haven’t been found ‘satisfactory’, a party source said.
These issues along with trouble from its alliance partners in UP came up for discussion in a midnight meeting chief minister Yogi Adityanath had with BJP chief Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s forthcoming Gorakhpur visit for a national level farmers’ meet also came up for discussion during the meeting.
“Some ministers and MLAs too could be asked to contest the Lok Sabha polls,” a BJP leader said adding the party’s top leadership’ hadn’t yet ‘officially’ communicated it to them.
A party source said the party could even get a few Rajya Sabha MPs to contest but added these details were yet to be finalised.
BJP UP in-charge JP Nadda, co-incharges Gordhan Zadaphia, Dushyant Gautam, Narottam Mishra and Sunil Ojha have been tasked with sector-wise responsibility of the state.
The party hands in UP, like JPS Rathore (in-charge of Awadh region), Vijay Bahadur Pathak (west), Govind Narayan Shukla (Braj), Ashok Katariya (Kanpur, Bundelkhand), Salil Bishnoi (Kashi) and Pankaj Singh (Gorakhpur), have also prepared their “ground level” feedback which would ultimately drive the party plan.
