Amit Shah pacifies allies, shakes up party leaders during UP visit

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah met the leaders of the Suhaildev Bahujan Samaj Party (SBSP) and Apna Dal-S here on Wednesday and heard them out, a party leader said.

Other than trying to thrash out the differences with the SBSP, Shah also spoke to Apna Dal-S chief Ashish Patel and Union Minister Anupriya Patel and asked them to brace up for victory in the 2019 general elections.

The SBSP has been miffed with the state government over a host of issues and Shah is learnt to have told Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to "take allies along and ensure that they met every fortnight" as source informed IANS.

SBSP chief and state minister Om Prakash Rajbhar,presented to the BJP chief a memorandum of demands that he said should be settled forthright. These demands included division of the 27 per cent OBC quota for jobs, allotment for a building for its party office, provision of distribution of at least 500 motorized tricycles to disabled in every constituency and directing officials to pay heed to the letters and phone calls made by their leaders in interest of the public.

Shah asked the Chief Minister to not only look "promptly and positively" into the issues raised by the alliance partners but also to ensure that they are given proper respect. He also asked for a go-between to be named for better coordination between the BJP and the allies.

Shah, a senior leader privy to the meeting, said that he himself will also be reviewing the relationship from time to time and as and when required.

The BJP President however also asked Rajbhar to ensure that his legislators also toed the 'coalition dharma' as two of his four ML's were under cloud for their likely cross-voting for SP candidates in the Rajya Sabha biennial elections last month.

Rajbhar later told media persons that he was very satisfied with his meeting with the BJP chief and said that his party was solidly behind the ruling party in the smooth functioning of the government.

Shah was also closeted with Adityanath, state BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and senior party office bearers.

He is also learnt to have taken feedback from the state unit on the reasons for the electoral debacle in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls.

Law and order and the Dalit agitation in the state along with the alliance of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party also came up during the deliberations.

The state ministers have also been asked to pay heed to the issues and problems raised by the party office bearers, leaders and the workers, while a possible rejig of the bureaucracy and an expansion of the cabinet was also discussed, sources said.

--IANS

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