Yogi Adityanath snaps 19-year parliamentary bond with Gorakhpur

Resigns from Gorakhpur constituency after election to UP legislature

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today resigned from his Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat, the constituency he had consecutively been representing for five terms since 1998.

UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya also resigned from his Phoolpur (Allahabad) parliamentary seat. They submitted their respective resignations during their visit to the national capital. On September 8, the two leaders were elected unopposed to the state Vidhan Parishad (legislative council).

The opposition had not fielded their candidates since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoyed brute majority to ensure comfortable victory to all of its five candidates in the Vidhan Parishad polls to fill five vacant seats. BJP and its allies account for 325 out of total 403 Vidha Sabha seats. Vidhan Parishad seats are filled through indirect polling by Vidhan Sabha members.

Another deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, UP transport minister Swatantra Dev Singh and Waqf minister Mohsin Raza were also elected unopposed to the Upper House. All of them were administered oath on Monday (September 18).

Under parliamentary rules, a person can retain the membership of single house either Parliament or a state legislature at a time. Since, the membership of the UP legislature is imperative for a council of minister member, including the post of CM, within six months of taking oath of office, the duo had time till September 18 to get elected to either the Vidhan Sabha or Vidhan Parishad, since the Yogi cabinet had taken over the reigns of UP on March 19, 2017.

Yogi holds the distinction of being of the youngest parliamentarians when he had entered the Lok Sabha. He represented Gorakhpur seat five times - 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. During his stint in Lok Sabha, he had been one of the most active parliamentarians with regards to his attendance, participation in debates, asking questions, introducing private member bills, partaking in parliamentary committees etc.

Meanwhile, Yogi would fly to Gorakhpur to distribute crop loan waiver certificates to the beneficiary farmers. Later, he would stay overnight at the Gorakshnath Peeth, the powerful religious body, where Yogi is the presiding head seer. Tomorrow, he is scheduled to visit Varanasi before returning to Lucknow.

Over the past couple of months, six UP Members of Legislative Council (MLCs) had resigned from their seats, necessitating polls. These included five Samajwadi Party (SP) members viz. Bukkal Nawab, Yashwant Singh, Sarojini Agarwal, Ashok Bajpai and Ambika Chaudhary, apart from a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLC Thakur Jaivir Singh.

These resignations have been credited to the BJP floor managers to save Yogi and his ministers from direct poll for Vidhan Sabha, which could have presented an opportunity to the opposition to unite and divert the attention of BJP from its other agendas.