After winning with a clear majority in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections BJP was successful in forming the government at the state under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath.
Though Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh along with Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma and state BJP President Keshav Prasad Maurya took as Deputy Chief Minister hold important positions in the Uttar Pradesh government, none of them hold a seat in the state legislature. Looking at the current situations BJP on Wednesday released a list of names of 5 ministers, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and said that they will cast their audiences in the upcoming Legislative Council elections to be held on September 15. The list includes the name of CM Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, the Dalit face of the UP government Swatantra Dev and the only Muslim face in Yogi cabinet Mohsin Raza.
This is the third consecutive time in Uttar Pradesh’s politics when the Chief Minister of the state will be a member of the Upper House. Earlier, Akhilesh Yadav (SP) and Mayawati (BSP) were also members of the Upper House. These five seats of the Legislative Council were vacant after the resignation of 4 SP and 1 BSP members.
However earlier this month in the first notification issued by the Election Commission, it was said that the elections will be held only for four seats on the Legislative Council, which meant that one of the members among the five was to be sidelined. It was clear that CM along with both the Deputy CM had to remain in the cabinet and BJP did not want to sideline the Dalit face Swatantra Dev, after winning the confidence of the Dalits since Ram Nath Kovind holding the office as the President of India. In such situation, the only contender left was Mohsin Raza but after the second notification issued by the election commission which said that the elections will be held for 5 seats, the tension to sideline one member eroded.
Among those who resigned from the Legislative Council membership were Bukkal Nawab, Yashwant Singh, Ashok Bajpai and Sarojini Agarwal from SP while Jaiver Singh had submitted his resignation from BSP. These five leaders are now members of the BJP and in future, are likely to hold important post allotted by BJP.
Since Yogi has an image of anti-Muslim politician and the fact that during the UP assembly elections the party had not nominated a single Muslim candidate was highly criticised by the opposition parties. The opposition accused that the ticket distribution in Uttar Pradesh was an influential step of BJP’s communal thinking. However, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath included Mohsin Raza in his ministry despite the latter not a member of any Legislature. Mohsin Raza is the only Muslim face of the present government, in such situation, his departure from Yogi’s cabinet could once again hit a string of questions on Uttar Pradesh CM’s communal thinking ideology.
BSP supremo Mayawati had resigned from the Rajya Sabha membership on the second day of the monsoon session in early July.She formed the deteriorating conditions of the oppressed Dalits as the base of her resignation. Mayawati has been a mass leader and the big support of backward, oppressed and Dalit voters has so far been with the party, however, it did not register much of success in the last UP assembly elections. Mayawati is currently working to strengthen the party getting it back to the track and is trying to win back her support base in such situation the departure of Swatantra Dev could have been a boon for her.
By making Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya as deputy chief ministers, the BJP high command had very tactfully represented all the sections of the society, with Dinesh Sharma representing the upper castes and Keshav Prasad Maurya representing the OBC class. With the recent political developments after, Nitish Kumar OBC leader becoming a national leader by joining the NDA and Ram Nath Kovind the Dalit leader becoming the President, BJP now has the support and leader representing almost all sections of the society. Keeping this in mind, Swatantra Dev may be appointed as the State party President while the current party president Keshav Prasad Maurya could have been promoted to the Modi cabinet.
After becoming a member of the Legislative Council, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will have to leave their Lok Sabha constituency. Earlier it was believed that BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya could be promoted at the center. But BJP national president Amit Shah has made it clear that Keshav Prasad Maurya has to play a bigger role in Uttar Pradesh’s politics. Their clear indication is towards the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP aims to clean sweep in the state. While Maurya is Lok Sabha MP from Phulpur seat, the Chief Minister Yogi is a Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur. The by-elections, after leaving these two seats, will work as rehearsals for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
By casting a role in the state for Keshav Prasad Maurya, the BJP’s central leadership has made it clear that the party is ready to fight the Lok Sabha by-elections in Phulpur. Earlier it was believed that the BJP would not take the risk of the by-election in Phulpur but now the situation has become clear. After resigning from the Rajya Sabha membership, BSP supremo Mayawati is engaged in strengthening her party in the state and the Phulpur by-elections can work wonder for BSP as this seat matters a lot for the party. This seat has the support of Dalits, minorities and the backward classes and in the current situation, Mayawati can become a strong contender.
BSP supremo Mayawati did not attend the ‘BJP Bhagao, Desh Bachao’ rally convened by RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in Patna. Her absence was a shock to opposition unity. However, she has already made it clear that she is against the BJP and will join any coalition only when the allotment of seats is decided. SP and Congress can come up to support Mayawati on her claims in the Phulpur by-elections. In the present scenario, even the opposition does not have any alternative other than to contest the polls. With the equation of caste votes and the opposition parties trying to strengthen their move, these by-polls may be the beginning of the BSP’s return to the state’s politics.