UP guv, CM to participate in Foundation Day event in Mumbai

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will take part in the state Foundation Day event to be held in suburban Santacruz here Thursday.

At the occasion, Adityanath and his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis will felicitate dignitaries from various walks of life, a BJP functionary whose organisation is hosting the event said here Wednesday.

City unit BJP president Ashish Shelar is another prominent leader of the party to attend the event, which is viewed as a bid to reach out to the north Indian voters in Mumbai in the election year.

Mumbai-based socio-cultural organisation Abhiyan has been organising the Uttar Pradesh Day every year on January 24 since the last 31 years.

Abhiyan convener and Mumbai BJP unit general secretary Amarjeet Mishra Wednesday said the people from Mumbai and suburbs will participate in the celebrations. "This event is akin to Bhojpuri filmfare function," he said.

Interestingly, UP Day is not celebrated in the northern state, Mishra said.

January 24 is regarded as the foundation day of the northern state as a notification was published on this date in 1950, renaming the United Province as Uttar Pradesh.

The Uttar Pradesh government never celebrated the occasion, Mishra said.

"However, the Adityanath government started celebrating the occasion since last year after I took up the issue with UP governor Ram Naik and Yogi Aditynath," he said.

North Indians settled in Mumbai and the suburbs is a significant vote bank divided between the Congress and the BJP.