BJP MLAs join party MPs to call out failures of the leadership, say RSS’ Sunil Bansal, who is another power centre in the state, doesn’t listen to MLAs.

New Delhi: Barely 15 months into his term as Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Yogi Adityanath is witnessing a chorus of dissidence from BJP MLAs and MPs. The complaint is that they are not being heard by the bureaucracy that is running the show with a chief minister still trying to come to grips with the state administration.

Party insiders allege that Sunil Bansal, the RSS point person in Uttar Pradesh and the state unit’s general secretary (organisation), has emerged as another power centre, but even he keeps the MLAs at arm’s length.

MLA Shyam Prakash had written a poem to express his discontent with the state administration after the party’s loss in last month’s Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll, while others are calling out the leadership more directly.

Sadhna Singh, the BJP MLA from Mughal Sarai, said she had not been given an appointment with party president Amit Shah despite repeated calls to his office.

“Neither the chief minister nor the deputy chief ministers listen to us. It was after 28 years that the BJP won Chandauli nagar panchayat (in the 2017 civic polls),” she said. “We asked the people to give us time and we will perform, but now it’s over one year and we have not been able to keep our promises.”

Singh said questions to the secretariat about proposed projects are dismissed with claims of a funds crunch.

“Hum bolte bhi hai hum Bhajapa ke karykarta hain, par sachiv thahaka laga kar hanste hain, kehte hain paise kahan hain (We tell them we are BJP functionaries, but the secretary laughs us off, says there is no money to sanction our projects),” she said.

‘Caste games’

Sitapur MLA Rakesh Rathore alleged the party’s agenda had been consumed by caste politics.

“When the BJP came to power in 2014, every caste supported the party, as they had trust in Modi’s Gujarat model… In 2017 (during the assembly polls), every caste supported the BJP in UP. Now, the party has implemented its caste agenda,” Rathore said.

“Yogi has posted all Kshatriyas in the bureaucracy, while deputy CM Sharma is promoting Brahmins. The state is run by Brahmins and Kshatriyas,” he said.

Caste politics has been a hot button within the BJP of late, with several MPs raising the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While Robertsganj MP Chhote Lal Kharwar filed a written complaint accusing Adityanath of being casteist, Bahraich representative Savitri Phule has launched several veiled attacks on the party over the Supreme Court decision “diluting” the SC/ST Act.

Nagina MP Yashwant Singh claimed there is a “sustained effort to take reservation away”, while Etawah’s Ashok Kumar Dohrey said the state police is targeting Dalits.

Some MLAs have also alleged that Adityanath and Bansal were running the show at their own whim, with no concern about the party.

“Bansal is close to Amit Shah, and Yogi is pushing his own agenda of caste. No one cares about the party. What will we tell people in 2019 if we cannot get their work done?” said an MLA, “Should we go and say that we are not being heard by the party, but still vote for the BJP for a better future?”

Bansal, a former member of the ABVP in Rajasthan and RSS pracharak, was loaned to the BJP to supervise the functioning of the state unit and establish coordination between the party and the Sangh.

He is said to have emerged as Shah’s “backroom boy” during the 2017 assembly polls and learned caste intricacies and the importance of data for electoral purposes.

Despite repeated attempts, UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey could not be contacted for comment.

However, some MLAs sought to dismiss the criticism, saying all was well in the state.

‘BJP no exception’

The BJP’s Mirzapur MLA, Ratnakar Mishr, said he had no problem with the leadership, adding that all his work was getting clearance. “I have not heard any discontent within the party,” he said.

Unnao MLA Pankaj Gupta echoed Mishr, saying his districts were doing fine and there was no discontent among party leaders regarding work. “Hamare yahan kaam ho rahe hai koi shikayat nahi hai (We are getting work done, there is no complaint),” he added.

Political commentator Dr Satish Kumar, an assistant professor at Banaras Hindu University, said problems did exist but things had improved under Adityanath.

“Transfers and postings are an issue,” he added, “There are anti- and pro-Yogi groups. The CM has a positive image in the state, especially because of his zero tolerance for corruption. However, the image of the party is a bit of problem as people are yet to see the development promised to them.”

Even so, he said, disgruntled MLAs were a problem every party faced, and the BJP was no exception

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