‘Yogi Has Never Even Administered a Municipality But …’, Shah Reveals Why BJP Chose a Temple Head as the CM of Uttar Pradesh

In 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, BJP had registered a landslide victory winning over 320 seats of the total 403 in the state.

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on  Sunday revealed why Yogi Adityanath was chosen as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh despite having ‘no administrative experience’. Speaking at an event in Lucknow, where the UP chief minister was also present, Shah said,”PM Modi and I decided to make him Chief Minister because we had faith in his abilities.”

“No one had imagined Yogi-ji to be the CM. People called us up and said that he has not even administered a municipality, he has never been a minister, he is a ‘sanyasi’ and he is being made the CM of such a large state!” Shah was quoted as saying by ANI.

“People asked me why we were giving him the reins of such a big state. But PM Modi and I decided to make him Chief Minister as we felt he was determined and capable of hard work and would adapt to all situations. So we handed over UP’s future in hands of Yogi-ji. That decision was proven right by him,” Shah said.

In 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, BJP had registered a landslide victory winning over 320 seats of the total 403 in the state. Though the BJP had not announced its Chief Ministerial candidate ahead of the election, name of Manoj Sinha, the then MP from Ghazipur was said to be party’s top choice for the CM post.

However, at the last moment, the saffron party sent shockwaves across the nation by announcing its firebrand leader, Mahanth Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

In a surprise move, Adityanath was called for a high-level meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah where the party sent the indication that party’s top brass is considering him for the Chief Ministerial post in Uttar Pradesh.

Adityanath comes from a Rajput family and represented Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha since 1998. He has been elected as an MP from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. Adityanath, whose original name was Ajay Singh and was later changed to Yogi Adityanath. He is a graduate in Science from HNB Garhwal University.