'Yogi Adityanath is my better version': Uma Bharti trashes opposition's UP poll prospects

Heaping praise on Yogi Adityanath ahead of the UP polls due early next year, veteran BJP leader Uma Bharti stressed that the CM is a "better version" of her. Bharti is one of the rare politicians to have won an Assembly election from two states- Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. While she served as the CM of MP from 2003-2004, the saffron-clad leader also won the Charkhari seat in the 2012 UP Assembly election. On Wednesday, she told the media in Prayagraj predicted that BJP will secure a comfortable victory in the upcoming polls.

Former Union Minister Uma Bharti remarked, "Yogi Ji is my better version. Yogi Ji has proven himself. He was uninterested in himself and showed interest in development works. These people (opposition leaders) have been left far behind. There is a stampede-like situation in Mulayam Singh's family-there is the son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren and the list is endless. On the other hand, there is Behenji who always remained in isolation. Their times are over." 

Frowning upon Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's election campaign, she observed, "Nothing is achieved by becoming active only at the time of elections". The BJP leader added, "Yogi Ji is like my younger brother. He is very dear to me. His Guru Avaidyanath and my Guru Pejawar Swamy Maharaj were friends". 

BJP's thrust on UP polls

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP had 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 some BJP leaders made conflicting statements over Adityanath's future as the Chief Minister, PM Modi put rest to all speculations by lauding UP's governance model during his successive visits to the state.

Leaving no stone unturned for the 2022 Assembly election, BJP appointed Dharmendra Pradhan as its election in-charge and Anurag Thakur, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Shobha Karandlaje, Annapurna Devi, Saroj Pandey and Vivek Thakur as the co-in-charges. Meanwhile, Sanjay Bhatia, Sanjeev Chaurasiya, Y Satya Kumar, Sudhir Gupta, Arvind Menon and Sunil Oza were named as the organizational in-charges of Western UP, Braj, Awadh, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Kashi. On September 24, BJP formally announced an alliance with the Nishad Party and Apna Dal (S).

Image: ANI