Yogi Adityanath meets Amit Shah amid UP turmoil

New Delhi, June 10: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah amid speculation over a rift in the Bharatiya Janata Party between the Centre and the state leadership.

The chief minister is also likely to meet PM Modi on Friday. His visit to the National Capital assumes significance as the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh is going to polls early next year.

Rumours of a cabinet expansion were also been doing the rounds, which was dismissed by state BJP leadership. Party's Uttar Pradesh in-charge Radha Mohan Singh on Sunday denied reports of possible expansion of the state Cabinet and said though there are vacant posts in the cabinet, it's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's prerogative to fill them as and when he likes to.

Adityanath is coming to Delhi a day after Jitin Prasada, a former Congress leader who comes from a well-known Brahmin family of Uttar Pradesh, left the party and joined the BJP.

Earlier this month, BJP's general secretary BL Santhosh had visited the state to review the party's preparations for Assembly elections due next year.

The BJP's top leaders were worried about criticism of the Yogi Adityanath government's handling of the Covid pandemic.

In April, a "confidential" letter written by Pathak surfaced on the social media, in which he had lashed out at the state health authorities, complaining that beds for coronavirus patients were falling short and ambulances took hours to arrive in the state capital.

The minister had not rejected the authenticity of the letter, which appeared to challenge the state government''s claim that it was on top of the situation.

Besides a few BJP lawmakers have expressed resentment openly on the Covid-control measures by the Yogi Adityanath government.