Lucknow, 2 Nov: The decision by the Uttar Pradesh government to conduct the next cabinet meeting in Ayodhya ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has sent shockwaves across political circles.
Opposition parties slammed the decision as “politically motivated,” claiming that it was done to keep the Ram temple issue in the spotlight.
While giving information about the outcome, UP minister Suresh Khanna stated that 20 of the 21 projects were approved, with the remaining one to be decided at the next cabinet meeting in Ayodhya. However, the government has yet to set a date.
Though government sources confirmed that the objective for hosting the next cabinet meeting in Ayodhya is to provide approval to many municipal development and beautification projects.
The opposition, on the other hand, found the “clarification” less compelling and labeled it a “politically motivated move.” “It is purely a political move because the Yogi-led BJP government wants to keep the Ram temple and Ayodhya issue in the spotlight until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This is just an attempt to keep the issue alive,” Udaiveer Singh, senior leader of the Samajwadi Party (SP), stated.
Singh went on to accuse the BJP of using the ‘Mandir’ card. “Whether in Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan, the party is heavily relying on the ‘Madir Card’ to woo voters. It intends to use the same strategy in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.”
According to political commentators, this is not the first time the BJP has held a cabinet meeting in a location other than the state capital of Lucknow. During its previous term, the Yogi Adiyanath administration had a cabinet meeting in Prayagraj ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
According to state government documents, a cabinet meeting was conducted on the banks of Sangam in Prayagraj on January 29, 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. For the first time since 2000, the state government convened at a place other than Lucknow.
“At the meeting, issues concerning Prayagraj’s development were discussed. However, previous to 2000, cabinet meetings were conducted in Nainital, which was then part of Uttar Pradesh,” according to a government spokesman.
