Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday cancelled all his engagements and visits for the day to meet officials…
Yogi Adityanath
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday cancelled all his engagements and visits for the day to meet officials and focus on the state’s administrative work, a day after the BJP’s shocking defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls.
“The CM (Yogi Adityanath) has cancelled all engagements scheduled for today. He will hold meetings with officials instead,” an official said.
The development comes amidst talks of Yogi neglecting his state to instead campaign for the BJP in poll-bound Karnataka as well as the northeast where the party saw spectacular results in the recently concluded assembly polls.
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In both Karnataka and the northeast, Yogi addressed a series of rallies and public meetings.
In fact, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah taunted Adityanath asking him to stop his lectures, referring to the UP CM’s two visits to the state wherein he attacked the ruling Congress.
In a tweet from his official Twitter handle, the 69-year-old Congress leader said: “Perhaps Yogi Adityanath should spend less time lecturing Karnataka on development.”
On Wednesday, Yogi had admitted that the BJP under-estimated the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance that led to its defeat terming it as a lesson to the party which would do an introspection.
Reacting to the shocking defeat of the party in the seats held by him and his Deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, he, however, expressed confidence that this would have no impact on the General Elections in 2019.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won Gorakhpur and Phulpur in 2014 by big margins of over three lakh votes.
The failure to retain the two seats has again showed the BJP’s vulnerability in a contest against a combined and determined opposition.
The results in Gorakhpur and Phulpur will have ramifications for national politics, with the opposition parties now expected to step up efforts to forge an electoral alliance against the BJP for 2019.
The BJP’s tally in the Lok Sabha too has come down to 274 now from 282 in 2014.
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