Yogi Adityanath to contest from Gorakhpur; BJP to field all top leaders in 2022 UP polls

Gearing up for Uttar Pradesh polls, sources reported on Saturday, that BJP plans to field its top UP leadership in the upcoming state polls in February 2022. The leader who will contest polls include - CM Yogi Adityanath, Dy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and BJP leaders Swatantra Dev Singh, Mahendra Singh. The saffron party holds an overwhelming majority of 312 seats in the 403-seat Assembly and aims to win over 300+ seats.

BJP to field CM Adityanath & Dy CMs in UP Polls

Sources report that Adityanath who is currently nominated to the Legislative Council, will contest the polls from any seat from his home district Gorakhpur. Similarly, other MLCs like Dy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya will contest from Sirathu seat of Kaushambi, Dinesh Sharma from Lucknow and Dr. Mahendra Singh from Kunda seat of Pratapgarh, report sources. PM Modi recently kicked off the UP election campaign by praising CM Adityanath's COVID handling. Sources have reported that UP will soon expand its cabinet and the recent Union cabinet shuffle also the induction of seven ministers from UP.

Yogi's Delhi sojourn

Ahead of BJP's declaration of Yogi Adityanath as its CM face,  Adityanath met top BJP leaders including - PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda on 10-11 June. Sources state that there will be no change in party leadership or the state government structure and that a coordination committee will be formed under Adityanath's leadership to bridge the gap between the Centre and state leadership. Recently, several top RSS and BJP leaders visited UP and praised the Yogi government's COVID handling.

As of date, several fronts have cropped up to challenge the ruling BJP. While Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj is eyeing an alliance with AIMIM, Azad Samaj Party, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party; parties like AAP, Shiv Sena, and JDU have announced that they will be contesting for the UP polls. Samajwadi Party and BSP have decided to not ally and shut their doors to Congres, opting to ally with smaller parties if needed or go solo. Since then, Congress has aggressively campaigned under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi in the state, eyeing its solo return. In 2017, amid tumultuous family fights in the Yadav family - with Akhilesh throwing out uncle Shivpal and replacing Mulayam Singh Yadav as the party chief, the then-UP CM stitched an alliance with Congress - with Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi holding joint rallies. This poll-alliance failed miserably, winning only 55 seats, while the BJP won 312 seats - ushering in Yogi Adityanath's maiden term.