RSS leaders present, Yogi Adityanath drops in at Deputy’s house

While it was billed as a visit to bless Maurya’s newly-wed son and his bride, what drew interest was that it coincided with the presence of senior RSS functionaries including General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, Joint General Secretary Krishna Gopal and Kshetra Pracharak Anil there, along with Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma.

Adityanath’s visit to Maurya also came days after the latter said that if there was a question regarding who would be CM if the BJP returned to power, it was the central leadership that would take a call.

विवाह उपरांत मेरे पुत्र एवं पुत्रवधू को आशीर्वाद देने हेतु मा0 #UPCM श्री @myogiadityanath जी, संघ के सरकार्यवाह श्री @DattaHosabale जी, सह सरकार्यवाह डॉ. @KGopalRSS जी, मा0 #DYCM @drdineshbjp जी एवं क्षेत्र प्रचारक मा0 श्री अनिल जी का मेरे लखनऊ आवास पर आगमन हुआ। pic.twitter.com/eks1jLxCpY

— Keshav Prasad Maurya (@kpmaurya1) June 22, 2021

Adityanath’s visit might have been a bid to put up a united front, at a time when other BJP leaders too have suggested that the CM issue is far from settled, while he faced heat from partymen over the Covid crisis.

On Monday, the RSS functionaries had met senior BJP leaders visiting from Delhi, including B L Santhosh and Radha Mohan Singh, as well as party state president Swatantra Dev Singh and state general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal.

On the second day of their visit on Tuesday, Santhosh and Radha Mohan Singh met ministers and BJP office-bearers. Unlike last time when the meetings had taken place one-on-one, this time Adityanath as well as Deputy CMs Maurya and Sharma were present at the discussions.

Sources said talks were held on the coming zila panchayat polls and the 2022 Assembly elections, and duties were assigned to ensure that till booth level, arrangements were in place for listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio broadcast ‘Mann ki Baat’.

A decision was also taken to organise a plantation drive from June 23 to mark ‘Balidan Divas (Martyrdom Day)’ of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, which would continue till July 6. June 25, the day the Emergency was announced in 1975, will be marked ‘Black Day’.

BJP state chief Swatantra Dev Singh said the meeting continued for four hours.