UP BJP
Lucknow: UP BJP on Monday announced its 712-member state working committee, four days ahead of the party meeting on Oct 30 to outline the strategy for the Assembly elections.
The highest representation of 120 members has come from Gorakhpur region. It is followed by Kashi region (comprising PM’s constituency Varanasi) with 108 members. The Awadh region, comprising Lucknow and Ayodhya, will have representation of 104 members, followed by Kanpur (79 members), West (70 members) and Braj region (67). The permanent invitees in the committee comprise 30 members, including PM Narendra Modi , defence minister Rajnath Singh , party veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, CM Yogi Adityanath and the two deputy CMs — Keshav Maurya and Brajesh Pathak.
The list, released by state BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary , covers party functionaries and members from the state’s six organisational regions — West, Braj, Kanpur, Awadh, Kashi and Gorakhpur. The meeting is expected to be attended by Union home minister Amit Shah besides many senior members, including national general secretary and UP in-charge Vinod Tawde and CM Yogi Adityanath . Three Muslims, including former Cabinet minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP national president of minority Morcha Basit Ali and BJP MLC Tariq Mansoor, have also ben included as permanent invitees. The higher numerical strength of the new state working committee is seen as a move to accommodate the growing pool of party functionaries who got left out of the recent organisational restructuring. The timing of the announcement is significant, coming amid efforts by the BJP state leadership to consolidate organisation and strengthen its election preparedness against the Samajwadi Party and its ally Congress.