BJP Chief J P Nadda on Wednesday convened a two-day meeting of party MPs from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh in Delhi, in what is being seen as efforts to remove any communication gap and ensure that the elected representatives and the government remain on the same page.
The meeting was also attended by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and state party chief Swatantra Dev Singh among other senior leaders.
According to party sources, the purpose of the meeting is to provide a common ground to the MPs, some of whom have been critical of the state’s alleged lack of preparedness for the second wave of Covid-19, and the CM as well as top state leaders to list the key takeaways of the government.
“The MPs are being made aware of the schemes introduced by the state government as well as organisational initiatives to counter the Opposition’s narrative on issues, be it about farmers or others, with facts,” said a party leader privy to the meeting.
“Take Covid management for instance. While the Opposition is making all sorts of allegations, the fact remains that our government has been most successful in containing the pandemic and is far ahead of other states when it comes to testing and vaccination coverage. The free ration scheme and similar welfare-oriented initiatives have been introduced and these could be overseen and monitored by the people’s representatives in their respective regions,” the leader added.
During the second wave of pandemic, several BJP MPs have raised questions over the alleged lack of facilities and preparedness of the Yogi government. Among those are Kanpur MP Satyadev Pachauri, Meerut MP Rajendra Agrawal, Mohanlalganj MP Kaushal Kishore and Bareilly MP Santosh Gangwar.
At the meeting, sources said, party leaders blamed such instances of apparent discord on miscommunication and lack of coordination between the government, cadre and the people’s representatives. With the polls nearing, the party has to work on bridging the trust deficit and ensuring a united front, they said.
“Our representatives have their questions to which our state leadership has its own set of replies. The idea is to give them a platform to bridge the communication gap,” a party leader said.
(With inputs from agencies)