Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is set to stand tall after the BJP recorded a resounding victory in Urban Local Bodies elections where Yogi criss-crossed the state electioneering for party candidates. The victory is seen as an endorsement of his widespread popularity.
When Yogi took over as CM there were apprehensions whether he would be able to provide good administration considering the fact that he did not have any administrative experience and Uttar Pradesh was not the ideal state to learn the threads of governance.
“If the BJP had not performed this good, it would have been a problem for Yogi as the election was dubbed as a litmus test not only by the media but also by Opposition parties,” a senior BJP leader said.
Such was the enthusiasm among BJP leaders that the Chief Minister delayed his departure to Delhi and preferred to be with fellow leaders at the state party office to be with supporters.
“I would like to give credit of this win to all BJP workers who worked for the party to communicate its agenda of development to all. I would also like to thank all the voters,” the Chief Minister announced at a press conference at the state BJP headquarters in Lucknow on Friday.
In an apparent jibe aimed at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Yogi said, “The civic polls in is an eye-opener as some one was talking big things about Gujarat, but could not win even a single seat in his own Parliamentary constituency of Amethi.”
The CM pointed out that the people have given their mandate to the BJP by expressing their faith in the governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh.
Yogi, who was campaigning in Gujarat and was supposed to go to Delhi, flew down to Lucknow to attend the celebrations at the state party office along with his two deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, besides state BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey.
The BJP leaders celebrated the occasion by distributing sweets and workers burst crackers. Later, Yogi left for New Delhi to attend a programme of a media house.
State BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said that this time the party has won more seats in Urban Local Bodies polls. In 2012, the BJP had won 10 out of the 12 Mayoral seats while this time we won 14 of the 16 seats.
He said that in 2012, party candidates had won 41 municipal council chairperson’s seats but this time it won 100 seats while in nagar panchayat chairperson’s post it won more than 250 seats, which was 36 in 2012.