As BJP Searches For Answers In Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath Meets Amit Shah

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met Union Cabinet Minister Amit Shah on Monday (10 June), a day after the oath ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third government.

While Yogi Adityanath called it a courtesy visit, the timing of the visit suggests that the poor performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in UP might have featured in their discussions.

The BJP could win only 33 seats in UP, while its main rival, Samajwadi Party (SP) won 37 seats. The BJP-led NDA won 36 seats, while the INDI Alliance of SP and Congress won 43 seats in Lok Sabha elections.

Despite the losses, UP was given significant representation in PM Modi's Council of Ministers. Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Hardeep Singh Puri were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers.

Jayant Choudhary (RLD), Jitin Prasada (BJP), Pankaj Chaudhary (BJP), Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal-Soneylal), Prof SP Singh Baghel (BJP), Kirtivardhan Singh, BL Verma (BJP) and Kamlesh Paswan (BJP) became Ministers of State (MoS).

Yogi Adityanath also met Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari while he was in New Delhi for the swearing-in ceremony.

For the past few days, the UP CM is making efforts to quell the displeasure that might have cost BJP seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

He expressed his commitment to ensuring the "purity, transparency and confidentiality" of selection examinations in UP and said that a new law would be implemented to stop activities like paper solver gangs/paper leaks.

Only government secondary, degree colleges, universities, polytechnics, engineering colleges, medical colleges or reputed, well-equipped and well-financed educational institutions with a clean track record should be made examination centres, he said in an order.

This is to prevent paper leaks, which recently happened in UP in February this year in the constable recruitment exam for UP Police.