NEW DELHI: Following the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypoll debacle in Uttar Pradesh, the NDA Government at the Centre has begun working closely with the party MPs from the state.
On the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, scores of Central ministries have reached out to the BJP’s Lok Sabha MPs from UP to discuss their respective developmental issues requiring the Centre’s intervention. The bypoll debacle in Gorakhpur and Phulpur seemingly sent the message to the BJP leadership that anti-incumbency sentiment against Parliamentarians was deepening in their constituencies.
While the NITI Aayog has begun facilitating convergence of various departments for speedy developmental achievements with the involvement of the MPs, the top brass of the Ministry of Railways has heard so far more than 50 MPs from the ranks of the saffron outfit from UP. “Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal along with his two deputies, Manoj Sinha and Rajen Gohain, besides the full Railway Board, had invited the BJP MPs from UP. So far 50 of them have turned up, while others will soon be coming to Rail Bhavan. They have been asked to submit their wish lists, which could be accorded top priorities,” sources said.
The BJP chief Amit Shah also held an extensive meeting with the UP in-charge, Om Mathur, and state general secretary Sunil Bansal in the wake of the bypoll verdict in a bid to identify reasons for the shock defeats. “The MPs had largely been complaining of lack of coordination by various departments of the Centre and UP to carry out developmental works in their respective Parliamentary constituencies.
Since UP accounted for 73 Lok Sabha seats out of total 282 won by the BJP in the 2014 general elections, the state commands top concern for the party for the 2019 challenge,” said a BJP functionary.Union Minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, Jeetendra Singh, is also learnt to have held a marathon meeting with the BJP MPs recently to understand their “grievances”.