Three months after Union Home Minister Amit Shah referred to him as “mere mitr (my friend)” at an event in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was on Thursday appointed as the BJP co-incharge for the upcoming Bihar elections.

While Maurya’s new responsibility is being perceived as a BJP ’s move to consolidate “non-Yadav” OBCs in the Bihar polls, many in the UP BJP see his “elevation to a national-level position” as a signal of his growing stature within the party.

“He (Maurya) is close to Amit Shah ji. This is not a hidden fact as Amit Shah had publicly referred to him as his friend at an event in Lucknow in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ,” a senior party leader said.

“While Yogi ji certainly would be the star campaigner for the par

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