Yogi Adityanath at Surajkund mela in Faridabad on Friday. (Photo: PTI)
WITH AN eye on next year’s Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has started meeting party MPs and MLAs from all constituencies amid reports of growing resentment among the workers over local issues and alleged non-cooperation from government officials.
Party insiders said Adityanath is meeting representatives of at least six to 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in a day in groups. So far, he has met MPs and MLAs — both from the BJP and alliance partners — from around 25 constituencies. “The chief minister will complete all the Lok Sabha constituencies by February 6, as Budget Session will start from February 8,” said a senior official in the CMO.
The constituencies that have already been covered include Hamirpur, Mishrikh, Banda, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Ambedkar Nagar, Ballia, Mainpuri, Bhadohi, Robertsganj, Kannauj, Farrukhabad and Jalaun. The agenda of these meetings is to discuss the issues being faced by the constituencies, what projects can be taken up and what hurdles are being faced in the implementation of schemes. Also, the meetings will discuss the coordination between the party organisation and the government.
Chhotelal Kharwar, party MP from Robertsganj constituency in Sonbhadra, said: “It is a good attempt… officers had started working with their free will… things will improve with the chief minister personally monitoring the works. As far as my region is concerned, we had suggested electricity connection for villages, some of which have not been electrified even after 70 years of Independence, as well as better facilities for health and education in tribal areas and improvement in irrigation facilities.”
Sources said most MPs and MLAs have complained about alleged “lackadaisical attitude of officials” to the issues that they had raised. “Officials in the district have become emboldened,” said Kharwar.
Brajesh Prajapati, BJP MLA from Tindwari in Banda, said the meeting from his region had taken place on January 31. “There is no state-level stadium in Bundelkhand… thus, we have requested for the same… The last village in the constituency is 65 km away from the district headquarters, which takes the fire brigade at least two hours to reach. Thus, a fire station should come up at the tehsil headquarters along with a four-lane road,” he added.
Sangam Lal Gupta, Apna Dal MLA from Pratapgarh, said: “For the meeting, we had prepared a list of projects, including a research centre for Aonla. We had also suggested a medical college be set up on around 200 bighas of a factory, which has been shut for several years. It is located on Rae-Bareli-Jaunpur highway.”
Gupta had also raised the issue of “non-cooperation” from government officials. “Officials are not listening to MLAs. If they do not listen to public representatives, how will public works be done? Chief Minister has issued instructions in this regard,” he said without elaborating.
On Saturday, Adityanath will meet party representatives from the constituencies of Rampur, Moradabad, Kushinagar, Lalganj, Sitapur and Bansgaon among others. Also, he has called MLAs from Amethi Lok Sabha constituency — represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi — to Lucknow on Saturday to discuss development projects for the region, said Suresh Pasi, BJP MLA from Jagdishpur.