Spotlight on UP as CM Yogimeets Modi, Shah & Nadda

Time of India

13 hours ago

Lucknow: Four photographs of Uttar Pradesh's deputy chief ministers meeting BJP brass in the past two weeks, followed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda on Saturday, have spiced up political discussions in the state.
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Social media, too, is abuzz with speculations, in a bid to decode the essence of all these meetings – UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary and UP BJP organisation secretary Dharampal Singh had a brief meeting with Shah as he departed from here as a changeover airport while coming from Rudrapur in Uttarakhand after attending a programme.
Of the four photographs, three were of deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah on July 8, with defence minister Rajnath Singh on July 9 and with Governor Anandiben Patel on July 11.
The fourth photograph was that of deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak also meeting Amit Shah, but on July 17.
Even as politics behind such meetings of the Deputy CMs was being decoded by political pundits and party workers alike, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also went to Delhi on Saturday and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda.
According to sources, the CM discussed UP's development projects with the PM.
One thing appears certain is that the central leadership has now decided to take up the long-due issues around UP.
Sources said that many developments were expected to take place both at the national as well as at the state level, like election of new national BJP chief, a new UP BJP president and reshuffles at the govt level both at the Centre and in the state. Discussions around UP-centric issues would have certainly come up during these meetings, sources said, adding that out of 37 BJP organisational states, new BJP chief have been finalised in at least 33, barring states like UP, Gujarat and Delhi.
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The only question is, will these states or UP alone get a new BJP chief before the national president is elected?
Sources said discussion was also possible around developments expected to come up after the UP BJP election like reshuffle and changes at organisational level.
Once the national BJP chief is elected, there will be changes at the organisational level and since UP would go to assembly elections in 2027, who all from the state would make it to the national team would be interesting to see.
Similarly, the key components of reshuffle will also be in focus during discussions.
Discussions kicked off among BJP cadre and political observers on July 9 when the photograph of Maurya meeting Shah from Maurya's X handle went viral.
Though there was nothing new in the photograph, it was the caption – which said that he had a discussion around repeating 2017 (victory) in 2027 – that made political pundits believe that he could be back as UP BJP chief.
Since Maurya is a strong OBC face of the BJP and could be the BJP's bet to counter Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav's by and large successful PDA narrative, speculations around his comeback in the organisation looked prudent to many.
Sources in the party, however, claimed that a decision on the new UP BJP chief was yet to be taken.
The belief that something is cooking in Delhi around UP was further consolidated when about a week after Maurya's meeting, the other deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak also met Shah in Delhi.
It is certain that UP is back in BJP's focus as CM Yogi has also met Modi, Shah and Nadda.
After Yogi, Bhupendra Chaudhary and Dharampal Saini are expected to meet BJP's top brass in Delhi on Sunday.