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STRATEGY Yogi hosts dinner meet for party legislators
LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath hosted a dinner meeting for the legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies – the Suheldev Bahujan Samaj Party (SBSP) and the Apna Dal – at his Kalidas Marg residence on Wednesday.
People familiar with the development said the meeting was attended by SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, Apna Dal president Ashish Singh and several BJP ministers and lawmakers. Samajwadi Party MLA Nitin Agrawal also attended the meeting and made it clear that he would cross-vote for the BJP, they said.
Adityanath also addressed his party MLAs on the occasion.
BJP strategists said the leaders had decided the allotment of each MLA to their candidates for the March 23 voting for the Rajya Sabha election in which the party was anxious to ensure the victory of its ninth candidate who requires nine additional votes.
The party has allotted 37 MLAs to its eight candidates and 28 to the ninth. Each candidate requires 37 votes to win.
A BJP MLA said a demonstra- tion was given at the meeting on how to vote to ensure that no vote was wasted due to technical reasons. “A makeshift polling booth was created where a demo was arranged,” he said.
Another BJP leader said the party had worked out the strategy and all the party candidates would win.
He said besides Nitin Agrawal, the BJP had also been assured of the support of Nishad party MLA Vijay Mishra. He added the party was in touch with several MLAs from the SP, the BSP and the Congress.