After LS debacle, UP BJP chief meets Modi, briefs on organisational matters

Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Wednesday, sources said.

The meeting came amid a review in the party of its performance in the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, with its leaders pointing to various factors for the party performing far below its expectations in the crucial Hindi heartland state.

Chaudhary is learnt to have briefed the Prime Minister on the party's organisational matters. The sources said the meeting lasted for about an hour.

While the BJP is looking to address various factors so as to put up a strong show in the 2027 assembly polls, the immediate challenge for the party is 10 assembly bypolls in the state for which Election Commission has not yet announced a date. There is speculation that the Samajawadi Party (SP) and Congress will have an alliance for these bypolls also.

 

Samajwadi Party won 37 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls and BJP won 33 seats. Congress won six seats in the state in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

Chaudhary and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya met BJP president JP Nadda separately on Tuesday. Chaudhary is learnt have apprised him about reasons for the party's poor performance.

Sources said BJP central leadership is taking feedback from various leaders on the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Opposition leaders have talked of dissonance in ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh following the results of Lok Sabha polls.

They commented on a post by Office of Keshav Prasad Maurya that "organisation is bigger than the government".

However, Maurya retorted to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's jibe at the party and said that the BJP is strong at the state level and national level and will win the 2027 assembly polls.

"Sapa Bahadur Shri Akhilesh Yadav ji, BJP has a strong organization and government, both at national level and state level, SP's PDA is a fraud. The return of SP's hooliganism in UP is impossible, BJP will repeat 2017 in the 2027 assembly elections," Maurya said in a post on X on Wednesday.

Earlier, the post by Maurya's office had caused a flutter in political circles. Maurya, who is seen as a leader who has risen from the ranks, talked of the pain of party workers.

"The organization is bigger than the government, the pain of the workers is my pain. No one is bigger than the organization, the workers are the pride," Office of Keshav Prasad Maurya said in a post on X.

Maurya is into his second term as the Deputy CM of the state. In 2017, he was the state BJP chief when the party registered a spectacular victory in assembly polls and won 312 seats. Following the victory, Yogi Adityanth was chosen as the Chief Minister.

In 2022, Maurya lost the assembly polls but continued in his position as Deputy CM. He was later elected to the Legislative Council.

BJP leader and Union Minister BL Verma played down Maurya's earlier remarks and said organisation and the government complement each other.

"I am also a party worker. We all respect the party workers. Organisational work is done by organisations and the government does the governmental work... Organisations and governments are working together for the development of the state (UP). Both the organisation and the government have their place. The organisation and government complement each other," he said.

Regarding meetings of Maurya and Chowdhary with JP Nadda, Verma said that these formal and informal discussions and meetings keep happening.

"'We will move forward. Contemplation and brainstorming are essential, regardless of the outcome. Our goal for 2027 is to emerge victorious," he said.

In his remarks, Akhilesh Yadav alleged that there was a "fight for power" in the BJP and the party was not thinking about the people.

"In the heat of the BJP's fight for power, governance and administration in UP have been put on the backburner. The work of sabotage politics that the BJP used to do in other parties is now being done inside its party. That is why the BJP is sinking into a quagmire of internal conflicts. No one in the BJP thinks about the public," Yadav posted on X.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said that the same thing had happened when Kalyan Singh was the Chief Minister of UP and only time will tell if there is another Kalyan Singh in the making or not.

"I have an experience of 44 years in UP... The same thing is happening now when Kalyan Singh was removed by the BJP and only time will tell if there is another Kalyan Singh or if Kalyan Singh can overpower. We will have to wait and see why all this is happening. But one thing is sure: the honest BJP workers are really sad from within," he said.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate alleged that there is a power struggle in the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

"UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya is in Delhi. He is continuously meeting Nadda. He is the one who has led the rebellion against Yogi (Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath) in the state. On whose orders he is doing this, you all know. For your information, I may tell that this gentleman had lost the assembly elections," she said in a post on X.

A meeting of BJP state executive was held in Lucknow on Sunday and is learnt to have discussed the party's performance in the Lok Sabha polls. BJP chief Nadda addressed the meeting.