Mission 2019: CM Adityanath to constitute 'Team Yogi' after Gujarat results

After successfully leading Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh civic polls and undertaking hectic electioneering in poll-bound states of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is now gearing up to constitute ‘Team Yogi’ in the line-up to 2019 Lok Sabha election.

‘Team Yogi’ would comprise both ministers and top bureaucrats holding important portfolios, chosen from the available pool on the basis of their performance over the last nine months of the current dispensation.

Although Yogi took oath of office on March 19, 2017, he had tasks lined up from day one vis-a-vis getting himself elected to UP legislature, President’s election and UP urban local bodies polls. This apart from touring other BJP ruled states during their election campaign and attending party programmes in other states, including Kerala and Chhattisgarh.

It invariably meant that Yogi was juggling his time and resources to fulfil his obligations as UP CM as well as a party leader, who was gradually inching up as a national level leader of the saffron outfit.

Now, the Gujarat poll is in the last leg before results are announced on December 18 and the winter session of UP legislature, slated to begin from December 14, would also conclude by next week. This would free up Yogi to concentrate on governance and his agenda pertaining to the various infrastructure and development projects in the state. 

So far the Yogi government was claiming that it was taking the stock of the ground situation in UP as the alleged rot in governance had penetrated deeper in the state owing to the misrule by the previous parties.

According to sources, Yogi would effect a major reshuffle in both his cabinet and the bureaucracy to fine tune his core team before UP gears up for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the same time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi would seek re-election.

The state political matrix assumes significance due to the sudden metamorphosis in the persona of now Congress President Rahul Gandhi by assuming a more aggressive stance, getting social media savvy and toeing a soft Hindutva line as seen in the ongoing Gujarat electioneering. Congress has an alliance with SP and depending upon the Gujarat poll results, the two parties could make the path tougher for BJP in the state, since Rahul represents Amethi constituency in Parliament.

At the same time, the Yogi government apart from announcing some new policies is yet bereft of any flagship project of its own neither any big project has been launched so far.

The proposed UP Investors’ Summit 2018 on February 21 and 22 in Lucknow is another reason, the state government wants to post officials in key departments to ensure that not only the event is successful in creating positive buzz, but necessary follow up is done as well in order to ensure investments flow to the landlocked state.