UP BJP Conclave called off at last minute by state unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya

NEW DELHI: BJP’s poll-bound Uttar Pradesh unit called off its state conclave less than 48 hours before the schedule, raising doubts about the cohesiveness of the state party unit.
BJP state unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya’s late Thursday announcement calling of the meet scheduled for the weekend in Jhansi was preceded by his failure to announce names of state executive committee members.

“He has kept postponing his declaration to announce his new team of office-bearers and state executive committee. He has barely managed to announce his team of office-bearers ahead of the meet but has still not announced the new executive committee because of internal tussle that turned intense after his announcement of a 40-member team,” confided a source within the Uttar Pradesh BJP unit, stressing the absence of the new state executive list.

Maurya was made state unit chief early April and has since been struggling to finalise his team of office-bearers and state executive committee to strike a balance among different factions and regions ahead of the UP assembly elections.

Calling off his first state executive meet at such a short notice added to the confusion within the state unit as it also violated the BJP central leadership’s decision to hold state executive meet within the first fortnight after the national executive held early last month.

Some of the functionaries of his new team suggested that the decision to call off the state conclave was necessitated because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Gorakhpur on July 22, though it comes days after the state-level meet that was scheduled for July 16-17.

They cited that party workers from Gorakhpur comprising about 11 neighbouring districts would be busy with preparations for the rally. However, the excuse flew in the face of the fact that the date of the PM’s rally was known long before dates of the state executive meet was scheduled. “This is an excuse. The reason is lack of announcement of the new state executive committee,” confided a BJP functionary.