The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has encountered significant challenges in Uttar Pradesh following its poor performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The BJP managed to secure only 36 seats, while the opposition parties collectively won 43 seats. This disappointing outcome has triggered a wave of changes within the state unit of the party.
There are strong indications that the BJP will make substantial changes in its organization and the state cabinet. Bhupendra Chaudhary, the current state chief of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, has offered to resign after discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President JP Nadda. This suggests the possibility of a new state chief being appointed soon.
Additionally, a reshuffle in the state cabinet is expected. The only previous expansion in the Yogi Adityanath-led cabinet occurred earlier this year when four new ministers were added as the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The upcoming reshuffle may see more representation from backward communities and regions where the BJP performed poorly in the recent elections.
Amid these organizational changes, there have been reports of discord between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy, Keshav Prasad Maurya. The central BJP leadership has urged state leaders to avoid public disputes and instead focus on the ten upcoming by-elections. However, the tension became evident when both deputy chief ministers, Maurya and Brijesh Pathak, were absent from a recent meeting chaired by the chief minister to discuss the by-elections.
Speculation about internal conflicts arose when Maurya skipped several cabinet meetings chaired by Adityanath in the past month. Maurya further fueled these rumors with his remarks at a BJP meeting in Lucknow, attended by around 3,500 delegates including Adityanath and Pathak. He stated, “No government is bigger than the organization (sangathan). No one is bigger than the ‘sangathan’. We are proud of our workers.”
This statement highlighted the concerns of some BJP leaders who believe that the bureaucracy in Uttar Pradesh is overshadowing the party organization. This issue was cited as one of the reasons why BJP workers did not campaign vigorously in the recent elections.
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NDA ally Sanjay Nishad supported Maurya’s statement, suggesting that many officers are aligned with the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, which contributed to the BJP’s poor performance in the state. In a bid to manage the situation, Maurya met BJP chief JP Nadda twice in the past 48 hours. Their discussions focused on the BJP’s strategy for the upcoming by-elections and the party’s recent poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP’s struggles in Uttar Pradesh have led to significant organizational and leadership challenges. The party’s efforts to address these issues will be crucial as it prepares for the upcoming by-elections and future political battles in the state.
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