Bharatiya Janata Party’s newly appointed president of Uttar Pradesh unit, Swatantra Dev Singh, accepted that it would be a tough task for him to meet the standard set by his predecessors but promised to work to ensure that the party workers got the reward for their hard work.
“I am lucky to get the charge of the party at a time when it is working like a well-oiled machine. Party workers know their job very well and leaders too know what is expected from them. My job will be to facilitate the workers and act as a bridge between the government and the party,” Singh said over telephone from New Delhi on Thursday.
Singh met BJP working president JP Nadda in New Delhi on Wednesday and other senior leaders of the party on Thursday before returning to Lucknow on Friday.
“I thanked Nadda ji and other senior leaders for giving me the opportunity to lead the party in UP. My predecessors like Mahendra Nath Pandey and Keshav Prasad Maurya have set a high standard of work culture and matching it will be a challenge,” Singh said.
When asked whether the forthcoming bypolls to 12 Assembly seats would pose a challenge for him, the new BJP state chief said that people had seen the opposition parties in UP and know that they are no match to BJP.
“In the 2017 Assembly polls, we did well and we repeated our performance in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. People have reposed faith on Modi ji and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The BJP will not only win all 12 seats but will do well in the 2022 elections also,” he said.
Singh is considered an organisational man and was state general secretary for two terms and vice-president of the party for one term. Though he belongs to Mirzapur but Bundelkhand is his political karmabhoomi.
“What goes in my favour is that I know the party, starting from top brass to grassroots worker, like the back of my hand because of my association with the party’s youth wing and also BJP organisation. Despite being a minister in the Yogi government for the last two years and a half, I used to meet party workers regularly because I love to do that,” he said.
On his maiden visit to Lucknow after becoming BJP’s UP chief, Singh would be accorded a rousing welcome on Friday. He will be welcomed at BJP state headquarters by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and outgoing state chief Mahendra Nath Pandey and other senior leaders and workers.
BJP state general secretary Vidyasagar Sonkar said that around two dozen welcome gates will be erected between Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport and Amausi and BJP state headquarters.
Sonkar said Singh’s motorcade would stop at a dozen places where local leaders would greet him.
