Yogi to address seven meetings, Maurya five

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finalised the campaign line up for Uttar Pradesh (UP) by-polls with chief minister Yogi Adityanath to address a public meeting in support of party candidate Sangeeta Chauhan from Naugawan Sadat assembly segment of Amroha in western UP on Thursday.

“He would also visit public meetings in Bulandshahr in support of party candidate Usha Sirohi as well as in Tundla on Thursday where the BJP has fielded Prempal Dhangar as the candidate in the by-polls,” said UP BJP general secretary JPS Rathore, who is also the in-charge of election management.

Adityanath, along with defence minister Rajnath Singh, are among the 30 leaders named as star campaigners for the November 3 by-polls. While Adityanath would hold seven public meetings, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya would address five meetings in support of party candidates, according to the election campaign schedule released by the BJP. After three public meetings by Adityanath, deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma would visit Bulandshahr for a public meeting on Friday.

Adityanath would also hold public meetings along with state BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh in support of Upendra Paswan, the party candidate from Ghatampur assembly seat and Shrikant Katiyar, the party candidate from Bangarmau assembly seat in Unnao on October 27.

On October 28, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who has just recovered from COVID-19 infection would address public meeting for Manoj Singh, party candidate from Malhani assembly seat of Jaunpur. Of the seven seats where by-polls are due on November 3, Malhani is the lone seat that was held by Samajwadi Party (SP), the rest of the seats were with the BJP. Maurya would also campaign in Deoria assembly segment where all the four major political parties have fielded Brahmins. In Deoria, Maurya would campaign for Satya Prakash Mani Tripathi, a lecturer in political science. “He is also scheduled to address public meetings in Naugawan Sadat, Tundla and Ghatampur (October 29),” a BJP leader said. On October 31, Adityanath would hold public meetings in Malhani and Deoria. “The party’s state general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal too is steering the election campaign as he is holding organisational meetings in all the assembly segments due for by-polls,” Rathore said.