UP polls: Akhilesh Yadav foresees Centre-Yogi govt 'dissonance' as BJP MPs meet in Delhi

On Wednesday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav linked the meetings of BJP's UP MPs in Delhi to the purported dissonance between the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government. While MPs from the Braj region, western Uttar Pradesh and Kanpur range will attend a meeting today, parliamentarians representing Awadh, Kashi and Gorakhpur range shall participate in deliberations on July 29. BJP president JP Nadda will chair these meetings to discuss the strategy for the 2022 UP Assembly polls. 

Moreover, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh and other senior leaders shall also be present. According to Yadav, the saffron party's top brass had summoned the MPs to question them on the current dire condition of the state. Maintaining that the people are determined to reject the Adityanath government in the election, he took a jibe at the JP Nadda-led party for reviewing the situation after "falsely" praising the state's governance model. 

BJP throws weight behind UP CM

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. While this was seen as a mandate for PM Modi as BJP had not declared any CM candidate, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise pick for the post.

Though Adityanath's stature within the saffron party skyrocketed over the years becoming a star campaigner in all elections, he purportedly attracted ire for the handling of the COVID-19 situation during the second wave. In the last few weeks, BJP leaders have made conflicting statements over Adityanath's future as the Chief Minister. For instance, UP BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh asserted that the polls will be contested under the CM’s leadership citing the end of corruption and hooliganism in the state.

However, UP Minister Swami Prasad Maurya stressed that the state’s next CM will be decided by the BJP’s central leadership after the assembly polls. Similarly, newly appointed UP vice president AK Sharma sparked a buzz by asserting that PM Modi's name was enough to win the election. But the PM put rest to all speculations by lauding UP's governance model during his visit to Varanasi on July 15. He commended the way in which the state government tackled the second COVID-19 wave despite the fact that UP's population size is more than many countries.