RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat Holds 2 'Closed-Door' Meetings With UP CM Adityanath: Report

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat held two meetings with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minsiter Yogi Adityanath on Saturday amid talks between the two factions after the Lok Sabha election results.

Bhagwat met Yogi twice on Saturday and both the "closed-door" meetings lasted nearly 30 minutes each, reported Indian Express equoting sources as saying.

Bhagwat first met Yogi on Saturday afternoon at a school in Campierganj area where the RSS chief attended a meeting and an RSS event. The second meeting took place at the Saraswati Shishu Mandir at Pakkibagh locality in the city around 8:30 pm, the report added.

According to a senior BJP leader who has been associcated with the RSS for three decades, Bhagwat's trip to Gorakhpur soon after the election results was not a rotuine visit but was meant to hold discussions with the UP CM over the key reason behind saffron party's debacle in Uttar Pradesh where it was seen to be in a strong position.

Bhagwat reached Gorakhpur on Wednesday where he held several rounds of meetings with the RSS office-bearers in the region and received reports from them on the election, as per the IE report.

In what came as a surprise, the BJP could manage to win only 33 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP compared to 71 in 2014 and 62 in 2019. The Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance in the state outnumbered BJP winning 43 seats  of which 37 went to the SP and six to the grand old party.

At the national level as well, while the National Democratic Alliance won 293 seats, the BJP could manage to only clinch 240 seats, falling 32 seats short of crossing the majority mark and retained the support of its NDA allies to form the government for a third term at the Centre. The Congress finished second with 99 seats.