17.3.22

BJP to retain CMs of 3 states

Of the four states BJP won in the recent assembly polls, the party is said to have decided to retain the incumbent chief ministers in Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur even as the fate of Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, who lost from Khatima, hangs in balance.

While there was no doubt about the continuation of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, party sources said the top brass has decided to continue with Pramod Sawant (Goa) and N Biren Singh (Manipur) although a few contenders had emerged in both states.

Sawant and Singh had reached the national capital a day earlier and called on the party brass on Wednesday, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda and several other leaders. Dhami was also in Delhi on Tuesday and met with some of the leaders, including Shah and Nadda.

Although BJP has appointed observers for the four states with Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh getting the responsibilities for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand respectively, party sources said the government-formation exercise will be formally taken up after Holi, maybe from March 20 onwards.

Asked about the recent meetings of the party brass with state leaders, a senior party leader suggested that it was a feedback exercise about the BJP’s performance and also about the pro- file of the winning candidates. “We are in the process of screening the winners’ performance.

Discussion about probable ministers is yet to take place,” a party leader said. He said the results in all five states are being assessed from different angles like how many, youth, women, SC/ST, OBC and also their regions. “This exercise will help in picking the ministers,” the leader said.

BJP MPs from Uttarakhand on Wednesday also called on Shah and discussed with him the current political situation in the state. The MPs had recently met PM Modi also and had congratulated him for the party’s performance in the polls.

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