BJP legislature party picks Yogi for UP CM, swearing-in on Friday

Hours after being unanimously elected the Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party leader in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, Yogi Adityanath met Governor Anandiben Patel to stake claim to form government in the state.

After dropping Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the local airport, Adityanath went to the Raj Bhawan to meet the governor.

Before him, BJP's central observer Raghubar Das, Nishad Party leader Sanjay Nishad, Ashish Patel of the Apna Dal-S presented support letters to the governor.

The BJP-led had won 273 of 403 seats in the just-concluded Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

While the BJP got 255 seats, its allies Nishad Party and the Apna Dal-S bagged 18.

Adityanath's swearing-in ceremony will be held on Friday at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and top BJP leaders.

There is, however, no confirmation about names of his deputies and the number of ministers in his second term.

As per constitutional provisions, there can be a maximum of 60 ministers in UP, including the CM.

A meeting of the newly elected party MLAs was held at Lok Bhawan here in the presence of Amit Shah.

In the meeting, the name of Adityanath was proposed for the post of the leader of the BJP legislature party by Suresh Kumar Khanna.

Baby Rani Maurya, Surya Pratap Shahi and others seconded the proposal.

Apna Dal-S leader Ashish Patel and Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad were present with their MLAs in the meeting.

Adityanath thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party's central observers Shah and Raghubar Das.

Adityanath said he had no administrative experience when he became chief minister for the first time but PM Modi and Shah guided him to provide good governance in Uttar Pradesh.

The barrier that was seen in the implementation of schemes of the Centre in the state collapsed in the past five years, he said.

"People for the first time felt that houses for the poor could also be built. For the first time, it was felt that money can go directly into the account of the poor," he said.

In a state like Uttar Pradesh, festivals can now be celebrated in a peaceful manner, he added.

Adityanath said the prime minister's mantra of "sabka saath, sabka vikas" made an impact despite the opposition propaganda.

People rose above casteism and supported nationalism, development and good governance, he said referring to the results of the Assembly polls.

On the occasion, Amit Shah hailed Adityanath, saying no party returned to power in UP in 37 years.

"Uttar Pradesh faced political instability for a long time due to "casteist and dynastic parties", Shah said.

He added that the BJP's victory in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in UP since 2014 established that people favoured "politics of performance and not that of casteism and appeasement".

"In the past 37 years, no party got full majority again in Uttar Pradesh. It is historic that the BJP is the only party, which got over two-third seats for the second consecutive time," Shah said referring to the assembly polls.

"No chief minister could get people's support and become CM again. But the people of the state elected Yogi again for the second time," he said.

Shah said in 2014, when Narendra Modi became the party's PM face, he sensed the support of the public and the party won 63 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

"At that time, we realised that we can win over 300 seats in UP in 2017. We tried to work for everyone but before 2017, under the rule of Samajwadi Party, this could not be done because of politicisation of administration and criminalisation of politics," he said.

"We managed to secure a historic victory in 2019 and then in 2022. Whenever history will be written, one will have to write about what happened in between 2017 and 2022 in UP," he said referring to the previous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

Shah also credited Adityanath with ending politicisation of the administration and decriminalisation of politics.

The BJP government and Adityanath worked on the formula of sabka saath, sabka vikas and we ensured that everyone gets the benefits they are entitled to without any discrimination, he claimed.