The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday released a list of 91 candidates, retaining the sitting MLA in Ayodhya for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
The party has decided to give tickets to 13 ministers but co-operative minister Mukut Bihari Verma has been dropped. His son Gaurav will be contesting from his Kaiserganj seat in Bahraich.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s media adviser Shalabh Mani Tripathi has been fielded from Deoria. The party had earlier announced that CM Adityanath will contest from Gorakhpur city in the upcoming state polls.
The ministers who have been fielded include Siddharth Nath Singh, who will contest from Allahabad West, and Nand Gopal Gupta 'Nandi', who will be in the fray from Allahabad South.
Agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi has also found a place on the list.
This comes a day after Union home minister Amit Shah said that the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are not to decide an MLA, a minister or a chief minister, the elections are to decide the future course of the state for the next 20 years.
Addressing a 'Prabhaavi Matdaata Samwad' (Effective Voter Dialogue) in Greater Noida, the senior BJP leader lashed out at the previous state governments helmed by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party over a host of issues, including law and order.
He also trained guns at the Congress along with the SP and the BSP over their opposition to abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, besides asserting BJP's commitment to national and internal security as he cited the surgical strikes on Pakistan and the action against criminal elements in UP.
Shah said the state had witnessed mafia rule and open extortion during the previous governments but stressed that the situation has changed over the last five years under the Yogi Adityanath government.
"The upcoming polls are not to decide an MLA, or a minister or a chief minister. The elections are to decide the future course for the next 20 years of Uttar Pradesh," he told a gathering that involved Gautam Buddh Nagar voters, including local farmers, traders, professionals and teachers.
"When we look back at the past 20 years, there were governments of 'Bua-Bhatija'. There was mafia rule and to such an extent that nobody was ready make investment in the state. There was an era of open extortion," Shah said, referring to BSP chief Mayawati and SP president Akhilesh Yadav.
