Amit Shah meets Yogi Adityanath; behind Kairana, Noorpur bypolls defeat

BJP president Amit Shah on Monday met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to discuss the reasons behind the recent bypoll defeat in the state. The bypolls in four Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly constituencies on May 28 were considered as the key player in the run up to 2019 Lok Sabha Polls.

As per a recent statement, made by state minister Om Prakash Rajbhar, the bypoll defeat in Uttar Pradesh was the result of anger because the BJP did not make Keshav Prasad Maurya Chief Minister last year. Currently, Maurya serves as Yogi Adityanath's deputy.

Though there is no official comment on the meeting so far, sources said that the Yogi-Shah meeting took place at a time while some party MPs and legislators are raising their voice against the functioning of the state government. The voices, are however, not against the CM and they are hoping for a ministerial position.

"BJP contested the state election with Maurya as its face. Backwards supported the BJP in the hope that Maurya will become Chief Minister.  The result of this anger is reflected in the defeat of the BJP in bypolls. BJP should introspect about the reasons for its defeat," Mr Rajbhar said.

Last month, the BJP lost the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly bypolls, which was a wake up call for the party ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, it had lost parliamentary bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies.

However, Amit Shah and his party are trying hard to grab 50 per cent vote share in Uttar Pradesh to weaken any united opposition challenge.