Amid buzz over rift with Yogi, UP deputy CM meets Nadda

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya met Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda on Tuesday, as the party works out its strategy following its poor performance in the crucial state in the Lok Sabha elections.

Maurya made no comments to media persons as he left the BJP headquarters in New Delhi following the meeting.

Party sources said Nadda was expected to meet UP BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary too.

There was no official word on the agenda of the meetings.

However, Maurya's meeting with Nadda carried significance following his 'organisation is always bigger than government' remarks at the state party's extended executive meeting on Sunday.

Nadda also attended the conclave in which Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had blamed 'over-confidence' for the electoral reverses in the state and suggested that the party could not effectively counter the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s campaign.

There has long been a buzz about less-than-warm relations between Maurya and Adityanath.

In private conversations, a number of BJP leaders from the state, including those who lost in the Lok Sabha polls, have been critical of the chief minister's working style and cited it as one of the reasons for their loss.

However, Adityanath is seen by his supporters as a popular chief minister who has aggressively pursued the party's Hindutva agenda and maintained a firm grip on law and order.

The INDIA alliance of the Samajwadi Party and the Congress had won 43 of the state's 80 Lok Sabha seats, while the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 36. The NDA had won 64 seats in 2019.

With by-elections due to 10 assembly seats in the state, political watchers will be keenly awaiting the outcome.