Senior leaders and MLCs of BJP to contest 2022 assembly polls in UP

Lucknow:Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, which has set a target of winning more than 300 seats out of 403 in the 2022 assembly elections, has now decided to field senior party leaders including the MLCs in the polls to take a head on with the fragmented opposition.

The BJP could field Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, presently an MLC, as well as other veterans in the assembly elections, a party sources here on Saturday hinted.

Along with CM Yogi Adityanath, the tenure of Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and State President Swantra Deo Singh would end in September 2022.

For this reason, BJP has made up its mind to put all these in the electoral arena. CM Yogi Adityanath could be fielded from any assembly seat in Gorakhpur or in Ayodhya district, sources said.

Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya can contest from Sirathu of Kaushambi districts while another Deputy CM Dr. Dinesh Sharma from Lucknow West seat which is still vacant due to the death of MLA Suresh Srivastava due to corona infection.

State cabinet minister Dr. Mahendra Singh is also preparing himself to contest from any seat of Pratapgarh district while BJP's state president Swatantra Deo Singh will contest from any seat in Bundelkhand region.

The assembly elections to be held in early 2022 in UP are going to be very interesting. While the BSP has announced to enter the field alone, the Samajwadi Party will ally with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Pragatsheel Samajwadi Party Lohia along with other smaller parties.

The Congress has also made it clear that it is not averse to forging an alliance with anyone.In such a situation, the BJP has also made a decision to field the members of the Legislative Council in the electoral arena.

CM Yogi Adityanath took oath as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on March 19, 2017. After this, he is a member of the Legislative Council since September 18, 2017. Similarly, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dr. Dinesh Sharma also took oath as Deputy Chief Minister on March 19, 2017 and have been members of the Legislative Council since September 2017. Dr. Mahendra Singh has been a member of the Legislative Council continuously since 2012, while Swatantra Dev Singh was also sworn in as a member of the Legislative Council in September 2017.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA from Ayodhya Ved Prakash Gupta has also announced to vacate his seat in Ayodhya for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.He said, "I am waiting since 2017 to vacate my seat. I had said in 2017 about my decision when Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had to become a member of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council. If the Chief Minister contests the election from Ayodhya, all the people will have great luck".(UNI)