Union Health Minister JP Nadda being welcomed by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on his arrival at Amausi Airport, in Lucknow. File. | Photo Credit: ANI
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya met BJP president J.P. Nadda on July 16, as the party works out its strategy following its poor performance in the crucial State in the Lok Sabha elections.
Mr. Maurya made no comments to media persons as he left the BJP headquarters here following the meeting. Party sources said Mr. Nadda was expected to meet UP BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary too.
There was no official word on the agenda of the meetings.
However, Mr. Maurya’s meeting with Nadda carried significance following his “organisation is always bigger than government” remarks at the State party’s extended executive meeting on Sunday.
Mr. Nadda also attended the conclave in which Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had blamed “over-confidence” for the electoral reverses in the state and suggested that the party could not effectively counter the opposition INDIA bloc’s campaign.
There has long been a buzz about less-than-warm relations between Mr. Maurya and Mr. Adityanath. In private conversations, a number of BJP leaders from the State, including those who lost in the Lok Sabha polls, have been critical of the Chief Minister’s working style and cited it as one of the reasons for their loss.
However, Mr. Adityanath is seen by his supporters as a popular Chief Minister who has aggressively pursued the party’s Hindutva agenda and maintained a firm grip on law and order.
The INDIA alliance of the SP and the Congress had won 43 of the state’s 80 Lok Sabha seats, while the BJP-led NDA won 36. The NDA had won 64 seats in 2019.
With by-elections due to 10 Assembly seats in the state, political watchers will be keenly awaiting the outcome.
