An emotional state president of Bharatiya Janata Party, Swatantra Dev Singh, said he was lucky to get the responsibility to head an organisation which has dedicated workers and compassionate leaders and would work in tandem with them to take the party to a new height.
“The party leadership has given me a big responsibility and I am sure that I will be able to serve the people with the help of workers and office-bearers the state unit of BJP has in Uttar Pradesh,” Singh said while addressing party workers at BJP state headquarters here on Friday.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his two deputies, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, and senior ministers of the state government were present at the party office to welcome the newly-appointed president of BJP’s UP unit. Outgoing BJP state president and Union MSME Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey also received the new state chief.
Singh, who is Transport Minister in Yogi Adityanath Council of Ministers, said that he was lucky to have worked in party as well as in government. “I am fortunate to work under Chief Minister who is a ‘Yogi’ and has taught me the virtues of hard work,” he said.
“I have also worked under different leaders in the party organisation and know the nuances of working in the party,” Singh said, and exhorted party workers replicate the party victory in Lok Sabha elections in the Vidhan Sabha polls to be held in 2022 so that Yogiji was re-elected as Chief Minister.
He talked at length about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fight against corruption and surgical strike. “The country is changing because the leaders have changed because they are talking about cleanliness,” he said. adding that development should be made people’s movement.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also spoke on this occasion. He spoke about development schemes of his government and how people had benefited from them.
Singh was given a rousing welcome on Friday on his arrival in Lucknow after being appointed party’s state president. Over two dozen welcome arches and several hoardings were put up across the main roads that his cavalcade passed.
Braving heavy rains that lashed parts of Lucknow in the afternoon, the BJP workers stood at roadsides waiting for Singh’s cavalcade to arrive. Some leaders said as they were informed that the BJP state president would reach Lucknow at 4 pm, they reached KKC gate at 3 pm.
Party workers perched on vantage positions like balcony and top of their cars showered flower petals on Singh as his car waded through the multitude towards BJP state office on Vidhan Sabha Marg. The excitement among the party workers was palpable as majority of them had worked with Singh at various positions. The BJP state president responded by waiving at them. At around a dozen places, Singh’s cavalcade was stopped as party workers welcomed him with bouquet and garland. At KKC tri-junction, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha workers garlanded Singh. BJYM leader Khurshid Alam said the newly-appointed BJP state president was garlanded with a 51-kg garland.
Singh also garlanded the statue of Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
When the cavalcade reached BJP state headquarters, Singh was greeted with firecrackers and the night sky was lit up with the fireworks.
