Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Bhupendra Chaudhary on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid buzz over his replacement. The key meeting ahead of by-elections in the state lasted an hour in New Delhi.
Chaudhary briefed PM Modi about the poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, said the sources. Apart from this, the issue of organization was also discussed. It is believed that the BJP president may be changed in the state. The saffron party may prefer a Dalit face for the post.
The development comes hours after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met ministers from the state at his residence in Lucknow to discuss the upcoming assembly bypolls in 10 constituencies. The floods in the state, which have so far affected more than 700 villages across 17 districts, were also discussed during the meeting.
The parley of meetings took place weeks after the Lok Sabha elections in which the ruling BJP performed poorly reducing to 33 seats, a drop of 29 seats from 2019.
The I.N.D.I.A bloc gained ground with the Samajwadi Party (SP) securing a win on 37 seats, a jump of 32 seats as compared to 2019, and the Congress winning on six seats.
"The meeting today was especially held to discuss the upcoming elections and we will win all the 10 assembly seats where by-elections are to be held," Finance Minister Suresh Khanna said after the meeting.
All the Uttar Pradesh cabinet ministers and ministers of state were present in the meeting, sources said.
BJP eyes UP by-polls
The 10 assembly seats, which are set to go to bypolls, are Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).
Nine of the 10 seats fell vacant after the MLAs resigned following their victory in the Lok Sabha polls. Prominent among these seats was Karhal (Mainpuri), which fell vacant after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav resigned following his elections to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj.
SP's Irfan Solanki's Sisamau assembly seat in Kanpur Nagar was declared vacant following his disqualification in view of his seven-year imprisonment by MP/MLA court.
(With PTI inputs)
