UP polls: BJP's meeting ends after 14 hrs, discussions held with allies

A meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Core Committee on the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls was held on Wednesday where discussions took place on seat sharing with allies.

The meeting which was chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah lasted for 14 hours and concluded at 1:35 am today.

During the Core Committee meeting, NISHAD party president Sanjay Nishad was also present. Minister of State (MoS) for Commerce and Industry and Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel also met all BJP leaders and discussed seat-sharing.

According to sources, the seat-sharing agreement will be announced after the CEC meeting on Thursday.

The Core Commitee also discussed Assembly constituencies include Ayodhya where the party may field Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, according to sources.

However, the final decision on Adityanath's constituency will be taken in the meeting of the BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) on Thursday in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be present.

It may be noted Adityanath, who represented the Gorakhpur constituency in the Lok Sabha five times, has never contested Assembly elections and is currently a member of the Legislative Council.

Besides Shah, BJP Uttar Pradesh poll in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, BJP UP General Secretary (Organization) Sunil Bansal and National General Secretary (organization) BL Santhosh also attended the meeting. BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda, who recently tested positive for COVID-19, also joined the meeting virtually.Earlier, BJP MP Harnath Singh Yadav had written a letter in this matter demanding Yogi Adityanath to contest the elections from Mathura.

The Core Committee also discussed recent resignations of Uttar Pradesh BJP MLAs including two cabinet ministers at the meeting.

In the last 2017 assembly elections, BJP had given 11 seats to Apna Dal while 8 seats to Omprakash Rajbhar's party. However, Om Prakash Rajbhar is now with Samajwadi Party (SP).

Elections for the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10, the Election Commission said. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7 in seven phases.

The counting of votes will take place on March 10.