Ahead of byelections for 10 seats, UP BJP president Bhupendra Choudhary calls on PM Narendra Modi, offers to quit

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 17

Ahead of the crucial 10 Assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, state unit president Bhupendra Choudhary met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and offered to resign, it is learnt. Later, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the party’s principal strategist for UP, also held parleys with Modi.

In Lucknow, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met Governor Anandiben Patel fuelling speculation of a possible state cabinet rejig with sources saying Yogi would stay the CM. A section in the party, however, said the CM met Patel in connection with the upcoming Assembly monsoon session.

Choudhary had last night met BJP president JP Nadda and taken responsibility for the party’s underwhelming show in the recent Lok Sabha elections offering to step aside thereby paving the way for the state party unit revamp.

Sources said UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, a senior OBC face, could return to the party as the state chief with the BJP keen on fielding a Backward Class leader in the position after a poor show in the UP LS elections. The BJP won 33 of the 80 seats, as against 62 in 2019.

Choudhary assumed the charge as the UP party chief in August 2022 to allay Jats who were then cross with the saffron outfit. Maurya, who has been repeatedly saying “the party is bigger than the government” (he said this on Sunday and again today on X), was the BJP UP president in 2017, when the party won the Assembly polls. Yogi, meanwhile, signalled he was in the saddle by meeting top ministers, earlier tasked with the strategy for 10 Assembly segments where bypolls are due, at his residence.

Of these 10 seats, BJP holds three, RLD and Nishad party one each and SP five. The party is eyeing changes to come back stronger in the bypolls after a dull LS run.

While Deputy CMs Maurya and Brijesh Pathak were absent, 16 UP ministers attended the meeting at CM’s residence, including UP Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh, Technical Education Minister Ashish Patel and others.

In the capital, sources said ongoing meetings of UP leaders with the national top brass were part of discussions regarding changes in the state organisation and likely in the cabinet of Yogi.

Meanwhile, after Opposition SP chief Akhilesh Yadav took a dig at the infighting between Maurya and Yogi in UP, Maurya tagged Yadav on X and said, “The BJP has a strong organisation and the government at the Centre and the state. SP’s PDA (picchdey, dalit, adivasi) is a fraud. The return of SP’s hooliganism in UP is impossible. The BJP will repeat 2017 in the 2027 Assembly polls.”