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A series of meetings and some social media posts over the last few days have indicated rumblings within the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of the party’s poor show in the recent Lok Sabha elections. This has led to buzz that the BJP high command may be looking for an organisational rejig in the politically crucial state.
On Wednesday morning, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met his ministers to discuss the upcoming Assembly bypolls in the state. In the evening, he called on Governor Anandiben Patel for a “courtesy meet” ahead of the Assembly’s Monsoon Session.
UP BJP president Bhupendra Chaudhary met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, sources said, and is believed to have briefed him on a host of issues related to the party’s organisational matters in the state.
On Tuesday, Chaudhary and UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya had met BJP national president J P Nadda separately amid signs of dissonant voices emerging from within the party in the state where it suffered shock losses in the Lok Sabha polls at the hands of the Opposition INDIA alliance parties, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress.
Maurya’s differences with Adityanath, which are widely acknowledged even within the party, came out into the open again after the Deputy CM said at a state party meeting in the presence of Adityanath and Nadda that “organisation is always bigger than government and no one can be bigger than the organisation”. The remark, which Maurya posted on X too, was seen as a message to Adityanath and fuelled speculation of a rift within the party’s state unit.
All eyes would now be on how the BJP top brass will resolve these issues.
Maurya is the BJP’s tallest OBC leader in UP. A large section of OBCs appears to have voted in favour of the INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP’s UP unit is not the only one experiencing tumult – in West Bengal, the party’s Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari made controversial remarks, saying there was no need for the “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” and that the party should do away with its minority wing.
“Hindu bachabo, songbidhan bachabo. Amio bolechi rashtrabadi Muslim, apnara bolechen ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. Aur bolbo na. Bolbo ‘Joh humare saath, hum unka saath’. ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ bandh karo (We will save the Hindus and save the Constitution. I have spoken about nationalist Muslims and you all said ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. But I shall say it no more. Rather we shall now say, ‘We are with those who are with us’. Let’s put an end to ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’),” Adhikari said at the Bengal BJP’s first working committee meeting after the Lok Sabha polls, in Kolkata. The two-day session of the state party working committee is set to continue on Thursday, where this issue is likely to be a subject of discussion.
With Adhikari’s statement appearing to contradict a policy laid down by PM Modi himself as evidence of its “secular” approach, the state BJP leaders jumped in for damage control, calling the statement the LoP’s personal opinion.
Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, who is seen as among Adhikari’s detractors, told reporters: “In the working committee meeting, party leaders participate as delegates and they are free to give their recommendations. It is up to the state party leadership to decide whether there will be any additions, corrections or deletions. Suvendu Adhikari spoke his mind as a delegate.” Adhikari later claimed he had been quoted out of context.
Amid such disagreements, some senior Bengal BJP leaders also called for an organisational overhaul in the state. It is to be seen how the party central leadership deals with these demands.
Farm loan waiver in Telangana
Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said his government would waive crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh on Thursday as per the Congress government’s poll promise made in the 2023 Assembly polls.
On Thursday, Rs 7,000 crore in total would be credited to the accounts of farmers whose loans of up to Rs 1 lakh are being waived, the CM said, adding that crop loans of up to Rs 1.5 lakh would be waived by the end of July, and the loan waiver process would be completed in August when loans of up to Rs 2 lakh are dispensed with.
SC to hear petitions on NEET-UG
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Thursday a batch of petitions related to the controversy-ridden medical entrance exam NEET-UG 2024 which was held on May 5.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra would hear more than 40 pleas, including those filed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) seeking transfer of cases pending against it in various high courts on the NEET-UG row to the apex court to avoid multiplicity of litigations.
– With PTI inputs
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