The BJP has named its Gorakhpur lawmaker Yogi Adityanath as the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, even as the party’s 312 newly-elected MLAs met in Capital Lucknow to formally elect their new leader. The party has promised to announce the new Chief Minister after this meeting.
The name of Yogi Adityanath, also head priest of the Gorakhnath temple in eastern UP, began to do the rounds as a possible candidate only on Saturday afternoon. Mr Adityanath, who has arrived at the BJP’s legislature party meet, also flew down to New Delhi in the morning to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Sources said the party’s ideological mentor, the RSS, has vetoed the party’s top choice for Chief Minister, union telecom minister Manoj Sinha. BJP President Amit Shah met RSS leaders today to finalise who would be Chief Minister.
As his supporters raised slogans in Lucknow this morning to demand that Yogi Adityanath be made Chief Minister, the lawmaker flew to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Uttar Pradesh is also likely to have two deputy chief ministers – BJP’s UP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, the Mayor of Lucknow – are in the running.
