Who shall be UP CM? All eyes on Amit Shah

March 12, 2017 08:33

BJP's parliamentary board will meet on Sunday to select the CM candidates for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand amid indications that party chief Amit Shah will exercise oversight over the two state governments.

The parliamentary board will hold deliberations even as speculation escalates over who might get the nod in UP. Besides state party chief Keshav Maurya, hardliner Gorakpur MP Yogi Adityanath and telecom minister Manoj Sinha, who have been speculated as strong candidates for the coveted job, Union home minister Rajnath Singh is also being discussed as a possibility.

Sources close to Rajnath, however, insisted that he was not keen. Other party sources said no decision had been taken yet to send anyone from the Centre.

There were indications that the massive mandate has expanded the scope for Prime Minister Modi and Shah to expand the pool to consider candidates capable of accelerating the implementation of development schemes through synergy with the Centre. "BJP's prospects in 2019 will be determined by its success in retaining the bulk of the 73 seats it won in the last Lok Sabha polls. Amitbhai is clear that the new chief minister should be someone who can hit the ground running," said a party source.

For Uttarakhand, Satpal Maharaj, Devendra Rawat and Prakash Pant are seen as frontrunners after the defeat of Ajay Bhatt, leader of opposition in the outgoing assembly who was seen as a strong candidate.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

'Shahanshaah' vs 'shehzada': Priyanka, Modi trade barbs over Rahul

The Congress leader also said that the BJP wants to change the Constitution, and reduce and weaken the rights given to the people through the statute book.

That's why we have CAA: Jaishankar on Biden's 'xenophobia' remark

Rejecting the criticism of the CAA, Jaishankar said, "There are people who publicly said on record that because of CAA, a million Muslims will lose their citizenship in this country."

IPL: How Jaiswal got back into the groove

Asked about Royals' preparation, Jaiswal replied: "It's going great right now, and I hope we can continue with the momentum prepare well and keep focusing on the process for upcoming matches."

'Now China Is Afraid'

'Ladakh will be dealt with in Modi's third term.'

Ex-Delhi Cong chief Arvinder Singh Lovely joins BJP

Lovely hailed the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for giving him and his colleagues the opportunity to join the party when they felt lost.