Yogi roots for smart villages, seeks majority for BJP in council

: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath listed the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s rural outreach initiatives as he connected virtually with mayors, chairmen of nagar palikas, gram pradhans and all councillors on Friday.

Adityanath said his government has envisaged developing smart villages. Wi-fi facility is to be provided in these villages, he said. He sought their cooperation in ensuring a BJP sweep in the UP Legislative Council election for the local authorities’ seats.

There are 36 vacancies of local authorities’ seats in the Council but elections would take place only on 27 seats on April 9 as the BJP candidates are set to be declared elected unopposed to nine of them. A win in these polls would ensure majority for the BJP in the legislative council too.

“We have got a majority in the UP assembly. Help us secure a majority in the legislative council too as a win here would help us fast track the various pro-poor initiatives that we have planned across the state,” Adityanath said.

“The double engine government is working towards making villages smart and modern. Also, remember that BJP is a party that is capable of making lawmakers out of gram pradhans and corporators,” he said.

Deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh and urban development minister AK Sharma also appealed to the nearly 32000 rural representatives connected to the interaction, to help BJP win.

The voters in this election are village pradhans, members and chairpersons of block development councils and zila panchayats, besides corporators of civic bodies.