Amit Shah pushes to end political crisis in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday took to firefighting to end the political crisis in UP following rebellion by the saffron party’s Dalit MPs and an MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar landing in a controversy over a minor’s rape and subsequent death of her father in police custody.
Shah, who flew to Lucknow in a chartered aircraft reaching around 12.30pm, remained ensconced with UP chief minister Yogi Adityanathat the latter’s official residence at 5 Kalidas Marg, holding a marathon meeting for over nine hours. Also present at the meeting were BJP organisation secretary, Sunil Bansal and RSS nominee for UP, Shiv Prakash.


Shah cancelled his scheduled visit to the state party office to meet party functionaries. This is the first time that Shah skipped going to the state BJP office.

While the outcome of his meeting with the CM was not revealed, BJP sources said that Shah sought refurbishment of the party’s image in the wake of recent controversies. Sources said that the issue pertaining to Sengar was discussed prominently during the meeting.

Shah also sought to establish better coordination between the state government and the party. In doing so, the BJP chief met separately with the two deputy CMs — Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma — and then with some of the state general secretaries. CM Yogi and the state BJP state president Mahendra Nath Pandey remained present throughout the meeting, sources said.

Apna Dal for meetings every 15 days, SBSP for new party office

The BJP chief, however, faced a peculiar situation when party allies Apna Dal and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) accused the ruling dispensation of ignoring them. The allies also demanded setting up a state government level committee that would meet every 15 days to sort out the problems faced by them.

Apna Dal chief Ashish Singh Patel, who met Shah at the CM’s official residence, said that there was resentment within the party workers and MLAs against the state government. Singh was accompanied by his wife Anupriya Patel, who is also minister of state for health. “We have sought regular meetings with CM Adityanath Yogi, at least in every 15 days,” he told TOI. Singh also reiterated his demand of adequate representation of SCs/OBCs in posting of DMs and SSPs in various districts. Significantly, Singh is one of the contenders for a seat in the legislative council elections due later this month.

SBSP chief, Om Prakash Rajbhar too said that he raised the problems faced by the poor and oppressed class in the state. “We are with the BJP, but the issues pertaining to the poor who elected us need to be raised at the highest level,” he said. Rajbhar, in fact, met Shah with a set of seven demands, including seeking a building for setting up a party office in Lucknow.

This is the second time that the two ally partners of the BJP in UP raised their problems with Shah. Both Singh and Rajbhar had earlier met the BJP chief in New Delhi just before the Rajya Sabha elections. Rajbhar, in fact, had threatened to abstain from voting in the Upper House elections if his demands were not met.