UP crisis lands at Shah's doorstep

Need to strategise for 10 by-polls takes priority over internal strife

- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar & Biswajeet Banerjee

The political storm brewing in the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, owing to the simmering differences between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya over the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, made a landfall in Delhi on Wednesday.

As State unit chief Bhupendra Chaudhary and Union Home Minister Amit Shah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the situation during the day, speculation was rife of how the crisis is going to be managed. Chaudhary told the Prime Minister he takes moral responsibility for the party's performance and offered to step down from the post. The meeting with Modi follows separate meetings on Tuesday between Chaudhary, Maurya, and BJP national president J.P. Nadda, to address the dissonance that comes ahead of the 10 by-polls that are imminent.

In Lucknow, Chief Minister Adityanath convened a meeting with ministers to strategize for the upcoming by-elections. Both Deputy Chief Ministers, Maurya and Brijesh Pathak, remained absent.