Yogi vs SP in 1st UP battle after Lok Sabha poll today
Political heft of BJP stalwart and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be tested on Wednesday as byelections to nine Assembly seats are held.
Adityanath conceived, planned and led the BJP campaign in this first electoral battle after the Lok Sabha polls where the party suffered a massive drubbing in the state, leading to divisions within. The results of the UP parliamentary polls also triggered talks of a rift between Yogi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah over poll strategy with the latter fielding the majority of sitting MPs who later lost.
For the nine bypolls tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah did not campaign, letting CM Yogi call the shots. BJP poll planners say it was normal for top leaders to leave byelections to CMs.
Sources also said the outcome of the bypoll results will impact Yogi’s future role in the party, though the CM enjoyed a firm RSS backing. Only recently, RSS second-in-command Dattatreya Hosabale, the powerful Sangh general secretary, backed Yogi’s controversial “batenge to katenge” slogan, which also became a talking point in the Maharashtra elections.
Of the nine UP segments, the BJP-led NDA held five (Ghaziabad, Khair, Meerapur, Majhwa and Phulpur) before sitting MLAs won parliamentary polls, vacating these seats and necessitating the byelections.
Yogi’s burden now is to retain these five and wrest the remaining four (Katheri, Karhal, Kundarki and Sisamau) from the Samajwadi Party. With Yogi the sole star campaigner of the BJP in the field, the onus will be on him to deliver. The CM held 13 rallies and roadshows during the campaign, with the outcomes set to determine if the SP can raise its strength in the Assembly.
At present, the BJP has 251 MLAs in the 403-member Assembly, followed by SP with 105. BJP allies Apna Dal (Soneylal) has 13, RLD 8, SBSP 6 and Nishad Party 5 MLAs. INDIA bloc partners Congress and Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two MLAs each and the BSP one. The bypolls tomorrow will be a direct fight between the BJP and the SP, with the Congress sitting out as an expression of solidarity with senior ally Samajwadi Party.
