Amit Shah asks Yogi Adityanath to bridge party-govt gap

Lucknow: In an initiative to bridge the gap between the party and the government, BJP president Amit Shah has asked UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath to meet party workers without an appointment, at least two days in a week.

The chief minister has assured that he and all his ministers will now meet party workers every Monday and Tuesday without prior appointment.

Mr Shah was addressing a meeting of party leaders from Kashi, Gorakhpur, Avadh and Kanpur regions after his arrival on a three-day tour of the state when several leaders complained that officers were not entertaining their complaints.

The party leaders said that the distance between the party and the government was increasing. Also, some of them said that the new mining policy was creating problems in the rural areas because of the spurt in prices of sand and other construction material. The BJP leaders also lodged complaints about the Dial 100 services.

Mr Shah is scheduled to address over 18 meetings during his three-day visit to Lucknow. During this tenure, he will meet office bearers of various frontal organisations, ministers and other leaders. Also, he will interact with the functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh (RSS).

According to BJP sources, Mr Shah is also expected to resolve issues prevailing between chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya. Reports of a cold war between the two leaders have been doing the rounds for the past few weeks.

BJP national vice-president and in-charge of the state, Om Prakash Mathur, and national general secretary Arun Singh will accompany Mr Shah on this visit.

Mr Shah’s visit comes after BJP MPs from UP had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and voiced their disenchantment with the state government last week in New Delhi.