Manthan in UP over cabinet overhaul, next year elections
BJP seems to be in fix to finalize its charioteer for 2022 UP polls
Lucknow, Jun 1 (UNI) Despite the ministers assuring the high-level national delegation that BJP will retain power in Uttar Pradesh, as per sources, confusion prevails as to how the party can achieve this target without possible change in cabinet, party and bureaucracy.
The churning within the BJP continued for the second day on Tuesday, but nothing concrete has emerged yet.
The national secretary (organisation) B L Santosh and in-charge of UP Radha Mohan Singh had a one-to-one separate meeting with senior ministers and met Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dr Dinesh Sharma here at the state BJP office.
The secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal and state party president Swatantra Dev Singh were not allowed in that meeting.
What was discussed in that meeting is not known, sources said, but after the meeting Mr Maurya said that the BJP will win over 300 seats in 2022 assembly elections. However, he did not clarify on whether Yogi Adityanath will lead the party in the election.
The labour minister Swamy Prasad Maurya too enthused confidence that the party will retain power in UP. “This exercise is to streamline working for the next elections,” he told journalists outside BJP headquarters again without elaborating as to what are the hiccups that need to be streamlined.
Sources say that two national leaders met around a dozen ministers. Many legislators also wanted to meet the delegation but were denied an audience.
As per the sources, it is believed that around two-thirds of the ruling party legislators have grievances against the Chief Minister. “We do not want a change in leadership as it would be hara-kiri for the party. But the national leadership should know the trauma we have faced in the last four and a half years where we were forced to beg and beseech for our rights so that we can extend help to the people,” one of the legislators, who came from eastern UP, said.
“We do not know what ministers told the national leaders, but I doubt they spoke the truth. We should have been given some time too,” he said.
There is wide speculation about a change in government, party and bureaucracy in the coming days. The focus of the change is A K Sharma, a close lieutenant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who joined BJP in January and within a day was made MLC. It was believed he would be made a minister but sources claim that “he has failed to win favour of Yogi.”In this scenario, B L Santosh and Radha Mohan Singh met the RSS leaders in an undisclosed location. The meeting continued for over an hour.
UP is becoming important for BJP and Sangh is evident from the fact that on June 5 a crucial RSS meeting has been called in New Delhi.