UP tops firefighting list: Leadership void

The Central leadership has sent feelers to the state that it would go for 8216;8216;Operation Uttar Pradesh8217;8217; after the LS Winter Session and till then, directives have been issued to state cadre to complete organisation polls. Sources said the high command was not happy with the performance of senior leader Lalji Tandon and state chief Vinay Katiyar, both likely to be pulled up in the revamp.

Party district heads who recently met in Lucknow had raised an accusing finger at Tandon8217;s performance within the Assembly while Katiyar also failed to impress in his stint, now over 15 months.

8216;8216;BJP had bagged 59 Lok Sabha seats from the state but in the last polls, it could only get 29. It has only four faces on which it can heap the responsibility of LS polls, but while Tandon and Katiyar have earned the ire of the national leadership, Kalraj Mishra and Rajnath Singh consider themselves to be Central material,8217;8217; a senior party leader said.