Elections were held on 11 Legislative Council seats in Uttar Pradesh. Almost 28 hours have passed since the counting of votes started but the results of two seats are still pending. One of these seats is from Varanasi Graduate Constituency. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders started protesting on this seat and started accusing an IAS officer Pranjal Yadav. There has been an uproar on social media after this name came into discussion. The reason for this is that 12 years ago, the same officer had not given permission to the rally of Narendra Modi, who was then the Lok Sabha election candidate from Varanasi. Now BJP leaders and supporters have accused the same Pranjal Yadav that as an observer, he is helping the Samajwadi Party (SP). The important reason behind these allegations is that when Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister, Pranjal Yadav was posted in the Chief Minister's office and was counted among the officers close to Akhilesh.
On Wednesday, there was a huge uproar outside Paharia Mandi of Varanasi. SP and BJP workers came face to face. BJP workers demanded the removal of supervisor Pranjal Yadav. BJP candidate Kedarnath Singh himself also staged a protest and demanded the removal of Pranjal Yadav. However, they later ended the strike. Let us tell you that Pranjal Yadav, who once stopped Modi's rally and was then posted in the office of former CM Akhilesh Yadav, has been kept in the departments with less influence after the formation of Yogi government in 2017.
Why was Narendra Modi's rally stopped?
The 2014 Lok Sabha elections were about to take place. In February 2013, Pranjal Yadav became DM of Varanasi. At that time there were murmurs that Narendra Modi may contest his first Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi so that the entire Uttar Pradesh can be consolidated. It was formally announced in March 2014 that Narendra Modi would be the BJP candidate from Varanasi. Newly appointed DM Pranjal Yadav was becoming popular among the public with his work. Pranjal Yadav, who took strict action against encroachment, came into discussion across the country when he did not allow a rally of Narendra Modi.
Also read: MLC Election Result Update: 28 seats in 4 states, where, who won? know everything
Actually, Narendra Modi's rally was to be held in Baniyabeg, Varanasi. Pranjal Yadav had not given permission to this rally. Regarding this he had to say, 'The local police report and intelligence input were negative. Even the DSP engaged in the CM's security had given a negative report. However, despite the day-long uproar and rhetoric, BJP had organized Narendra Modi's roadshow in the evening.
An interesting thing is that when Narendra Modi filed his nomination, Pranjal Yadav himself accepted the nomination. On this, many opposition leaders including AAP chief and Varanasi candidate Arvind Kejriwal had accused him that he did this deliberately. Then Kejriwal has called him a BJP supporter.
During an interview in May 2015, when Pranjal Yadav was working in Banaras to implement the schemes of Narendra Modi, who had become PM, he was asked about this incident. He had then said, 'This topic did not come up at all in my meeting with the PM.' He also said that he has a working relationship with Prime Minister Modi.
Also read: Wheat sowing reduced by 59 percent, in which states the impact of weak monsoon is more?
How has been the career of Pranjal Yadav?
Pranjal Yadav, a 2006 batch IAS officer, is 46 years old. He is an officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre and is basically a resident of Uttar Pradesh. He has done B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Roorkee and in his 20 years of career, he has now reached the post of Joint Secretary. In 2006, he became an IAS officer at the age of 26.
After training as an officer, Pranjal Yadav got his first posting in Prayagraj in June 2007. Then he was made Assistant Collector. In February 2008, he was made Joint Magistrate in Mahoba. In the same year he was made Joint Collector in Siddharth Nagar district. Then he also worked as a joint collector in Meerut for a few days. He became the Chief Development Officer in Meerut itself. In February 2011, he became the Managing Director of the Energy Department but remained in this post for only a few months.
Where is DM?
In 2011 itself, he was posted as District Magistrate for the first time. He got the first district Rampur. After about a year, he was transferred to Mahamaya Nagar (Hathras). After this he was also the District Magistrate of Maharaj Ganj and Azamgarh.
Also read: BJP, SP or BSP, with whom will Valmiki Samaj go in 2027?
In February 2013, he became DM of Varanasi and remained in this post till 3 August 2015. In 2015, he was directly made Special Secretary in the Chief Minister's Office. This was when Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister. As soon as the Yogi Adityanath government was formed in 2017, Pranjal Yadav was transferred and he was made Special Secretary in the Stamp and Registration Department.
In January 2018, he was made MD in Skill Development. In 2019, he became Special Secretary in the National Integration Department Secretariat and worked on the same post for more than 4 years. At present he is posted as Joint Secretary in the MSME Department and has been sent as an observer in the MLC elections.