Eyebrows were raised over the absence of senior BJP leaders, including local MP and Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti and Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath in the first State Working Committtee meeting which commenced here on Saturday. No senior BJP leader was ready to speak on the absence of these leaders, particulary about Uma Bharti, who happens to be the local MP. No one was sure as to why she skipped the meet. Union MSME Minister Mishra said, "she is a big leader and must be busy with her work.”
However, Union Minister for Food Processing Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said that she had heard that Uma Bharti was ill and therefore could not make it to the meeting.