Now, Adityanath gets more power to push saffron agenda

ANY ADVERSE OUTCOME WOULD HAVE GIVEN AMMUNITION TO HIS RIVALS WHO HAD BEEN SILENCED AT THE BJP’S VARIOUS REVIEW MEETINGS IN THE PAST

LUCKNOW: With the BJP domination in urban local bodies election, chief minister Yogi Adityanath gets an added strength to push his saffron agenda further.

A victory in Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi, despite stiff challenge from the opposition there, will only strengthen his resolve to pursue saffron agenda ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It will also put him on a higher pedestal on the list of saffron brigade’s star campaigners in coming days.

“We will win all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 polls,” said Yogi while speaking to media persons at BJP headquarters after the poll results here.

Yogi had made the civic polls a prestige issue for himself, undertaking a whirlwind tour (for the first time by any chief minister), addressing about 40 public meetings across the state.

He has been able to prove his mettle and his government’s nearly eight month performance gets the people’s approval though a divided opposition may have contributed to the BJP’S victory,

As the victory comes in the midst of campaigning for Gujarat, Yogi is bound to use this as a platform to send a message for party’s campaign in Gujarat. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to make India a global power…. Those who talked of defeating the BJP in Gujarat have lost the election in Amethi too,” said Yogi.

A favourable outcome, however, does not mean that the journey ahead will be smooth for Yogi. Yogi’s detractors are already questioning the outcome as any major victory for the BJP saying the urban local bodies had been its traditional area of strength.

The BSP making its presence felt on the poll horizons and the SP and Congress have begun targeting his government for ‘misusing’ official machinery to influence the poll and the poll outcome may push them closer.

Yogi’s adversaries though had been silenced at the BJP’S review meetings in the past, any adverse outcome would have given them ammunition against him. Gorakhpur is one of 14 seats of mayor that the BJP has won in the civic polls.

Yet, an independent’s victory on a ward (where Gorakhnath temple situated) in Gorakhpur is already being used an opportunity to dampen spirits of his workers in Gorakhpur, his domain.

Yogi’s further rise in the BJP is bound to make his adversaries more uncomfortable. So, besides facing challenges on political front Yogi will also have to address administrative issues on a priority basis in coming days. He is likely to carry out an expansion of his cabinet and drop the non-performers to further reassert his authority in the coming days. A major administrative reshuffle is not ruled out after his likely address to senior administrative officers in the coming weeks.