New Delhi, Jan 11 (Agency) Top leaders of BJP including Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a meeting in the national capital to discuss the upcoming polls in Uttar Pradesh. A day after meeting of the state election committee in Lucknow on Monday, Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, Uttar Pradesh election in charge Dharmendra Pradhan, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh held a meeting at the national headquarters of the party. BJP president JP Nadda, who tested positive for Covid on Monday, joined the meeting virtually, said sources.
As the meeting started in Delhi, in Lucknow, Labour and Employment Minister Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from the state cabinet. Deputy CM Maurya, who was in Delhi, tweeted urging Swami Prasad, to reconsider his decision. “I don’t know the reasons why respected Swami Prasad Maurya ji has resigned. I appeal to him to sit and talk, hasty decisions often prove to be wrong,” Maurya said. The meeting which went on for almost ten hours meanwhile discussed strategy for the polls. Shah held detailed discussions on the situation in the different regions of the state. Sources said names of the candidates were not discussed today. The leaders will meet again on Wednesday and hold further deliberations. The Central Election Committee of the party is likely to meet in Delhi later this week to finalise the candidates. The notification for the first phase of polls will be issued on January 14, while January 21 is last date for filing nominations. The BJP is in power in Uttar Pradesh with 303 MLAs in the 403 seats assembly, and is set for a battle against Samajwadi Party, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party in the seven phase polls.