LUCKNOW: In a fresh affirmation of 'Brand Yogi' being the key mantra to electoral success for BJP in the high-stake UP assembly elections due next year, books highlighting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's achievement were distributed among party MPs during their meeting with BJP national president JP Nadda in Delhi on Thursday.
Publications projecting Yogi as a 'Karmyogi', his 'Vichar Darshan' and the achievements/public welfare schemes of the UP government were given to the MPs. Special mention was made about the state government flagship One District One Product scheme which is essentially aimed at bringing employment opportunities for youths at the local level.
BJP MPs asked to reach out to farmers
The development comes days after PM Narendra Modi openly lauded the efforts of the Yogi Adityanath government in tackling the Covid crisis, bringing curtains down on wild rumors about change of guard in UP BJP and the state government. Before Modi, BJP national general secretary (organisation), BL Santhosh, who happens to be an affiliate of the RSS, had hailed the Yogi government vis-a-vis pandemic management.
The endorsements of Modi and Santhosh were seen as BJP counter to the opposition covert attempts to put the BJP on a mat over alleged mismanagement of Corona crisis during the devastating second wave. According to sources, Nadda asked the MPs to help the state government in ramping up the vaccination programme against the virus.
Thursday's development further cemented Yogi as the key face on which the party would rely even as it gears up to take on a belligerent opposition. The MPs were reportedly asked by Nadda to step up efforts in ensuring that the policies of the BJP government at the Centre and the state were percolated down to the grassroots. Nadda is also learnt to have asked the MPs to make bold efforts in thwarting opposition malicious designs to defame the government.
Sources said that the MPs were categorically asked to reach out to farmers and the poor and tell them about the various schemes brought out by the Modi government at the Centre and Yogi government in UP. This comes a week ahead of PM Modi's interaction with the beneficiaries of PM Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana on August 5. The scheme is being projected by the BJP as a hallmark program to consolidate its position among the farmers and poors.
