Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya will resign from their Lok Sabha seats, Gorakhpur and Phulpur, in the next couple of days, and the search for candidates to be put up in these constituencies will begin in earnest.
Before that, the BJP will keenly watch the State and national executive meetings of the Samajwadi Party in the next couple of weeks. The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav, is expected to be elevated as party chief at the meetings, and a resolution setting forth the political line for the party for the 2019 elections is also likely to be passed. Future alliances may be discussed.
BJP sources said they will track whether the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will put up a joint candidate in Phulpur or fight the byelection separately. “As far as we can assess, it seems unlikely that a joint candidate will be put up as we don’t see the BSP gaining anything from it. It’s a seat where the Scheduled Castes may not vote with the Yadavs [the SP’s core vote bank],” a senior office-bearer of the party said.
For Gorakhpur too, the party will have to cast its net wide as it will be for the first time in many years that the leadership of the Gorakhnath Math (headed now by Mr. Adityanath) will not be available as a candidate. Before Mr. Adityanath, his guru Mahant Avaidyanath used to represent this Lok Sabha constituency.
“November and December will be crucial for the State government as that is when the byelections may be called, and the local bodies elections in the State are to be held,” the source said.
