Amid buzz of govt-party rift, Yogi steps in to improve coordination

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has held marathon meetings with party MLAs and MPs for over a fortnight in the backdrop of the BJP’s less than expected performance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls in the state.

The meetings have been held amid a buzz about a rift between the state government and party organization and are aimed at improving coordination.

The BJP’s below -par performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll in Uttar Pradesh was the trigger point that opened the fault lines between the party organisation and the state government.

The Lok Sabha poll results on June 4 that brought down the BJP tally in Uttar Pradesh to 33 MPs from 62 in 2019.

As the process to review the poll results began, the government faced allegations from party workers of being neglected and overlooked.

Starting with the Devipatan and Ayodhya divisions on July 7, Adityanath regularly held meetings with party MLAs and MPs from across the state in a bid to reddress their grievances.

He met MLAs and MPs of Meerut and Prayagraj division on Thursday. On Friday, he is scheduled to meet MLAs of the Lucknow division.

At the meeting with Prayagraj division lawmakers, the chief minister urged them to get ready for the 2027 U.P. assembly elections.

He also asked the public representatives to reach out to the people, including Dalits and the poor, besides taking corrective measures to ensure that the party’s poll performance improves.

The meeting was held at the CM’s residence in Lucknow.

The BJP had a poor showing in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in Prayagraj division.

The party, which had sitting MPs on all the five seats,lost Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi and Fatehpur seats and managed to retain just the Phulpur seat.

“We stressed the need for improving coordination of public representatives with the administration and the party as steps needed to perform better in the 2027 state elections,” said Allahabad North MLA Harshvardhan Bajpai.

Those present during the meeting included UP cabinet minister and Allahabad South MLA Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’, Allahabad West MLA Sidharth Nath Singh, MLCs Surendra Chaudhary and KP Srivastava, Bara MLA Vachaspati, Phaphamau MLA Guru Prasad Maurya and Allahabad North MLA Harshvardhan Bajpai among others.

“We apprised the CM about various reasons for the party’s poor show in the Lok Sabha election. We also complained about bureaucrats not listening to public representatives,” said another BJP MLA who was part of one such delegation that met the chief minister.

Nand Kishor Gurjar, the BJP MLA from Loni in Ghaziabad, said, “During the meeting, I apprised the chief minister about various reasons for the party’s poor show in the Lok Sabha election. I pointed out that bureaucrats don’t listen to us.”

“Assuring action, CM is asking for proof against bureaucrats. But the question is how could we bring proof?” Gurjar added.

“I am an MLA. If I am saying something and writing a letter to the CM, then this in itself is enough,” he asserted.

These meetings are also being perceived as part of preparations by the chief minister before he meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi by the month-end.

In this meeting, PM will discuss the Lok Sabha election results. He is also likely to take feedback from Adityanath on the BJP’s below par performance in the state.

“Coordination of the state government with the party organisation will also be part of the agenda of talks between PM and CM,” said a senior BJP leader.

“The chief minister wants to take feedback from MLAs and MPs on the party’s poor show in the Lok Sabha election so that he could apprise the prime minister. By these meetings with party legislators and MPs, the CM also wants to cool down the discontent in the organisation against the state government,” said a senior BJP leader.

After the poll results, senior RSS and BJP leaders visited Lucknow from New Delhi, to take stock of the situation.

RSS sarkaryavah (general secretary) Dattatreya Hosabale was in Lucknow on a three-day visit from June 26. BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh was also in the state capital on a two-day visit on July 6 and 7.

Union health minister and BJP national president JP Nadda presided over the party’s state executive committee meeting on July 14.

“Internal rumblings in the party post -Lok Sabha election results are a matter of concern for both the RSS and the BJP,” said a senior BJP leader.

Senior RSS functionary sah sarkaryawah (joint general secretary) Arun Kumar was scheduled to visit Lucknow on July 20 on a three-day visit. But the visit was postponed as it created much -buzz in the media about “all is not well” between the government and the party organisation.

Kumar’s role in the RSS is to coordinate with the BJP.

The state BJP has already done its ground work to take feedback from every region on the party’s below -par performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in the state.

The BJP had constituted 40 teams with two -members each to visit all 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh.

These teams have submitted their reports, pointing out reasons for the less than expected performance in the Lok Sabha results.

The BJP has laid special emphasis on seats that it lost in this general election. In their reports, party observers also stressed on the reasons why the candidates’ winning margin came down in the Lok Sabha seats that the party won.