New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday met RSS top brass, including its chief Mohan Bhagwat and his second-in-command Bhaiyya Joshi, apparently to discuss poll-related strategies and organisational issues.
The meeting took place days after a crucial meeting between the RSS-BJP top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to review the BJP’s poll preparedness and feedback from the ground, which have suggested that UP would be one of the important states where the party will have to replace maximum number of its sitting MPs due to anti-incumbency and coming together of regional forces.
The feedback suggests that if the SP and BSP join hands for the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP could lose nearly 25 to 30 seats in UP, where it had won 71 out of total 80 parliamentary seats in 2014. Dwindling support base of the BJP among OBCs and dalits has also been troubling the BJP as the two are numerically dominant in UP, where caste plays a crucial role.
Also, there is a growing demand from a section of BJP’s UP unit to replace the CM, in the wake of key parliamentary seats, including Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana and Noorpur, during the recent bypolls. The meeting also comes a day after Mr Adityanath asserted that a Ram temple would be built in Ayodhya at a “Sant Sammelan” after Ram Vilas Vedanti, member of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, declared that the saints will start the construction of the temple without waiting for a court order. Sangh parivar affiliate, VHP, has also indicated that it could relaunch the Ram mandir movement.
The meeting between the UP CM and Bhaiyya Joshi lasted for more than two hours and were joined by Mr Bhagwat later. After his meeting with the RSS leaders, the UP CM reached Lucknow to attend the ongoing crucial coordination meeting between the RSS and the BJP leaders.
Representatives of other Sangh parivar affiliates are also expected to attend this meeting.
