There is a mad scramble among legislators from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to vacate their seats in favour of Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi so that he could get elected for Vidhan Sabha.
Though the Chief Minister has not dropped any hint from where he would be contesting the elections, at least three MlAs have offered their seats till date.
Three-time MlA and former Congress Chief Minister Veer Bahadur Singh’s son Fateh Bahadur Singh has offered his Campiyarganj Assembly seat in Gorakhpur for Yogi. The seat is part of Gorakhpur lok Sabha seat represented by Yogi Adityanath.
Singh said that it would be a great opportunity for him to offer his seat to the Yogi. “As my segment (Campairganj) is part of Gorakhpur, people will feel proud to elect their Chief Minister from this region,” he said.
The second offer came from Vipin Singh, an MlA from Gorakhpur (Rural). He has released a statement saying that he was ready to vacate his seat for the Chief Minister as people want that Yogiji should represent the constituency. “I am willing to vacate my seat in favour of Chief Minister”, Singh said in the statement.
First-time MlA Shailesh Singh Shailu also offered his seat to the Chief Minister. The 43-year-old Shailu, a former lucknow University Union leader, has offered to resign from Gainsari seat of Balrampur district.
Interestingly, five ministers, including Chief Minister, his two deputies — Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dr Dinesh Sharma, the lone Muslim face Mohsin Raza and Swantradeo Singh, are not members of either House of the state legislature. They need to be members of the legislative Assembly or legislative Council within six months.
In 2000, when Rajnath Singh was elevated as Chief Minister, he was elected to the Assembly after Congress MlA Surendra Nath Awasthi aka Puttu Awasthi resigned from his Haidergarh seat to accommodate him.