Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath reached Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence on Friday amid concerns over the UP government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis and reports of friction within the BJP’s state unit. A day before, Adityanath met Union home minister Amit Shah.
Yogi Adityanath’s two-day visit to the national capital also comes amid speculations of expansion of the UP cabinet ahead of the assembly elections to be held in the politically crucial state early next year.
As reports of the friction within the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party trickled in, BJP general secretary organisation BL Santhosh visited Uttar Pradesh earlier this week along with national vice president Radha Mohan Singh. They meet party leaders and ministers to hear their concerns ahead of the 2022 UP assembly elections.
Many of these leaders are said to have flagged issues like handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, disenchantment among people and lack of coordination between government and party leaders, among others.
Santhosh praised the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government’s efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. He said on Twitter the UP administration reduced the daily Covid-19 case count by 93% within five weeks. He also praised the decision to vaccinate parents of children below 12 years of age and said it a wise move amid apprehension that children may be affected more in the probable third wave of the pandemic.
However, the central leadership has ruled out any change in state leadership, throwing their weight behind the Yogi Adityanath administration. It has also ruled out any change in the BJP’s organisational structure and said any change to the council of ministers would be carried out following consultation with the chief minister.
The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are scheduled to take place in 2022. The BJP stormed back to power in the state in the 2017 assembly polls. Among the major parties, the BJP has 309 legislators, Samajwadi Party (SP) 49, Bahujan Samal Party (BSP) 18 and Congress 7 in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly.
