Uttar Pradesh: BJP puts CM Yogi Adityanath at forefront of victory march

LUCKNOW: Even as poll results of block chairman elections projected landslide victory of BJP-supported candidates on Saturday evening, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reached the party’s state headquarters along with his deputy Dinesh Sharma and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh.
The development raised much curiosity in the political circles and was seen as the party’s bid to put Yogi on the forefront of the electoral success in the rural bodies’ polls which were being projected as a key pointer to the saffron party’s electoral prospects in the high stake UP assembly elections due next year.
On July 3, Swatantra Dev had reached Yogi’s official residence to congratulate him when party-supported candidates registered a landslide victory in Zila Panchayat chairman elections.
On Saturday, Yogi was quick to maintain that the victory in the rural polls were a reflection of people’s mandate on PM Narendra Modi’s policy of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas. He said that it was also a stamp on policies of the Centre and the state government and a robust law and order situation in the state. “It was unlike in the previous regimes when anarchy prevailed and criminals held sway,” he said.
Significantly, the block pramukh polling got marred by reports of violence stemming from clashes between BJP and the Samajwadi Party workers in various parts of the state.
Yogi maintained that rural development was at the focus of the state government’s development agenda and the rural local bodies would contribute their bit in achieving the goal. He said he hoped that the three tier rural local bodies would further strengthen the Panchayati Raj system.
Held in the middle of pandemic, Yogi largely remained away from the three-tier rural local bodies’ elections for members which were seen as a litmus test for the BJP even as an aggressive opposition sought to push the ruling party to the wall accusing it of mishandling the Covid crisis.
While Yogi himself got infected by the virus, the party’s leaders took charge of the rural polls by rolling out its well-oiled organisational machinery in rural swathes. The party organisation was helped by UP ministers who were assigned different districts and asked to act as a key link between the party and government.
The BJP, however, faced a formidable challenge from the opposition, essentially the Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party, in the ward level elections in many key districts including Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Ayodhya and Mathura.