As Uttar Pradesh Assembly election elections approach, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met nearly 40 MPs from the state over breakfast at his official residence in the national capital on Friday.
However, controversial Minister of State Ajay Mishra Teni was not seen in the meeting.
Ajay Mishra’s absence has raised several speculations. Amid this, people wonder was Mishra not invited or chose to skip the meet.
The key meeting for BJP comes a few days after an STF report declared that the killing of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheir, in which Ajay Mishra's son Ashish is prime accused, was a "planned
conspiracy." The STF report came embarrassment to state ruling BJP and opposition demands sacking of minister.
According to sources, this is the PM's fourth such meeting during the ongoing Winter session of Parliament, having previously met legislators from all north-eastern, southern and Madhya
Pradesh states.
The informal meeting held at PM’s residence continued for about half an hour. PM pushed the party MP’s to broaden their engagement with people beyond political activities and
avoid VIP culture.
"No one is more important than party. Keeping this in mind, start gearing up for polls," UP MPs were flatly told by Mr Modi, said sources.
Mr Modi also sought feedback from the UP MPs, according to officials present in the meeting. Meanwhile, he also tried to comprehend the intensity of Lakhimpur farmer violence.
The Prime Minister has been visiting the state regularly in recent weeks to inaugurate or lay the groundwork for a variety of projects, highlighting the achievements of both the Centre and
the Yogi Adityanath-led government.
Recently, the Prime Minister inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency. During his visit, he also chaired a meeting in Varanasi with 12 chief
ministers from BJP-ruled states about good governance practices.
The ruling party will also hold a series of 'yatras' across the state before the end of December in a major election campaign. The six yatras will visit each of the state's 403
assembly seats. Such yatras have long been a part of the party's campaign in assembly elections.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has allied with the Nishad Party and the Apna Dal (S).
Assembly elections will be contested in five states early next year - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur.
Out of 403 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party secured 312 seats in the 2017 Assembly elections. The Samajwadi Party (SP) won 47 seats, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) got 19, and the Congress
obtained only seven seats.