Suspense over U.P., Uttarakhand CMs

The decision has to be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah alone, say top sources.

March 16, 2017 01:27 am | Updated December 04, 2021 11:58 pm IST - New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flanked by Union Minister for Telecommunications, Manoj Sinha (left) and UP State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya during a poll rally.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flanked by Union Minister for Telecommunications, Manoj Sinha (left) and UP State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya during a poll rally.

Suspense over who would be the next chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand prevailed even five days after the poll results were announced.

A meeting of the BJP legislature party in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled to be held on Thursday, is not going to take place, with senior leaders maintaining that “it wasn’t supposed to take place then in any case.”

‘Decision rests with Modi, Shah’

Top sources in the BJP say the decision on the chief ministers has to be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah alone.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, considered the front runner for the post in U.P., when asked whether he was offered the job, said: “Kya faltu baat hai, sab anaavashyak hai [what useless talk is this, completely unnecessary].”

The party’s parliamentary board on Sunday evening passed a resolution leaving the choice of chief ministers to Mr. Shah. “That is the reason why central observers [also appointed during Sunday’s meeting of the parliamentary board] Venkaiah Naidu and Bhupendra Yadav have not been despatched to Lucknow yet to ascertain the views of the MLAs on who should be their leader,” said a source.

Besides Mr. Rajnath Singh, other front runners include Minister for Telecommunications Manoj Sinha and State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya. Mr. Sinha is considered a safe pair of hands in terms of administration and also does not represent a numerically dominant social group.

Mr. Maurya, hailing from a non-Yadav OBC background that came out in huge numbers to support the BJP in these polls, has the advantage of a community base that the party would like to see attached to it beyond these polls.

“It is rather ironic that the States where the mandate was unclear like Goa and Manipur, have already seen the installation of a government, but not where everything is clear,” said a party leader.

 

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