BJP's Uttar Pradesh in-charge meets state Governor, says no plans for cabinet rejig

He described the meeting with Governor Anandiben Patel as a formality

Amid speculations of rift between the national leadership and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath over the latter's ''style of functioning'', the BJP on Sunday virtually ruled out a change of guard in the state.

UP BJP in-charge Radha Mohan Singh, who met the state governor Anandiben Patel at Rajbhavan here, heaped praise on Adityanath over the way he tackled the Covid 19 situation in the state.

''The CM is working very hard....his is the most popular government in the country...he has tackled the pandemic effectively...rule of law prevails in the state,'' Singh told reporters.

He termed the reports about rift between the state government and the national BJP leadership as a ''figment of imagination'' of some people.

On being asked about speculations on the cabinet reshuffle, Singh, who reportedly handed over a sealed envelope to the governor, said that it was the prerogative of the chief minister.

Also Read | The curious turn in UP politics with Yogi-Modi stand-off

Although Singh termed his meeting with the governor a ''courtesy call'', there were speculations that there could be a cabinet reshuffle in the state in the next few days keeping in view the next assembly elections in the state due in March 2022.

The speculations stemmed from Singh's late night meeting with the UP BJP president Swatantra Deo Singh and party general secretary Sunil Bansal at the party office here on Saturday.

Earlier the saffron party national general secretary (organisation) B.L.Santhosh had also indicated to the senior state party leaders and ministers that there would be no change of guard in the state.

According to the sources some ministers and senior party leaders had conveyed to Santhosh that there could be a negative fallout of the Covid 'mismanagement' for the party in the next year's assembly polls and had also expressed resentment over his (Adityanath) style of functioning but were told that there was not much time left for the polls and that a change at this juncture could send a wrong message to the people.