Yogi Adityanath Will Have To Undergo A Litmus Test

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

By initiating a veiled attack on BJP’s central leadership and Uttar Pradesh party leaders of his opposing group on Sunday in BJP’s State Executive meet, Yogi Adityanath has himself unwittingly chosen with arrogance a path that will eventually cross through a litmus test soon, when byelection to the 10 legislative seats is held, the result of which will decide his fate as Chief Minister of the state.

BJP’s State Executive meet was held to discuss and find out the reasons for party’s very bad performance in the Lok Sabha election 2024, which turned out to be a battle between the opposing groups in the party coming out face to face in opposing and blaming each other for the debacle. The differences did not cease there and no new strategy could be carved out to face the new challenges offered by the INDIA bloc in the state.

The differences actually spilled over, and on Tuesday night Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya met BJP’s National President J P Nadda to convey what they actually meant. They complained about the style of working of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Their grievance was that Yogi Adityanath depend more on his bureaucrats than party’s rank and file, including MLAs. High-handed attitude of the Chief Minister and his administration has been alienating the BJP worker and local leaders, some of them are actually angry.

It has already been reported in the media that J P Nadda heard then patiently, understood between the lines spoken by the aggrieved leaders during the meeting. Nadda just pointed out that byelection to the 10 Assembly seats are to be held in August, a way of indirectly saying that ‘no changes’ were to be contemplated until the byelections are over, despite acute difference in the party’s state unit. Nadda’s verbal posturing was a clear signal that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be given a free hand in these byelections.

In course of pacifying the complainant BJP’s state unit leaders, Nadda betrayed the real intentions of the Central BJP leadership to see what Yogi Adityanath could come up with in the byelections given him free hand in choosing candidates and campaigning in his own style. The result of the byelection would therefore be very important for the political fate of Yogi Adityanath.

The political situation has come to such a pass in Uttar Pradesh BJP after the Sunday’s Stat BJP Executive Committee meet where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has blamed “overconfidence of the party leaders” and “repeating unpopular candidates” for the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha Election. The first allegation was targeted against his opposition group in state BJP, and the second allegation was targeted at central BJP leadership.

It is no secret that Deputy Chief Minister Maurya has backing of Central BJP leadership, but Yogi Adityanath was made Chief Minister and remains on the post due to his stronger grip on larger number of leaders in the party. Moreover, he has stronger support base and following among the common people due to a range of reasons including his being a monk. No other BJP leader in the state has such following and supporters within the party and among the public.

It should be noted that in the Sunday’s executive meet of the party, Deputy CM Maurya has said that party organization is he force behind the government and not vice versa. It was a direct attack on CM Yogi Adityanath’s way of running the government that has antagonized large number of BJP rank and file and the people.

During discussion, the issue of alienation of Rajput votes was also brought up, which was allegedly the result of sidelining Yogi Adityanath from the Lok Sabha election campaigns. It is worth recalling the elections were fought entirely in the name of PM Narendra Modi. As for Uttar Pradesh, Yogi’s being Rajput by birth, is the pride of Rajput votes, that was hurt when he was sidelined by the Central BJP leadership.

Being a Monk, Yogi has very large following among Hindus in Uttar Pradesh, especially in the eastern Uttar Pradesh, popularly known as Purvanchal, the chief reason is his religious seat being in Gorakhpur. Lok Sabha election result has however shown BJP’s support base declining by 8.61 per cent in the state. BJP lost its 29 seat it had won in 2019, and could win only 33. In a 15-page report, 10 reasons are listed for BJP’s loss, which included dissatisfaction of party workers.

BJP allies are also not happy with the party. For example, Apna Dal leader and Union Minister Anupriya Patel has alleged about CM Yogi led state government’s failure in filling the vacant posts with as per the quota provided to OBCs.

Other BJP leaders are also voicing their grievances against Yogi Adityanath’s high-handedness in running the state. In the meantime, State BJP president Bhupendra Chaudhary met PM Narendra Modi in Delhi on July 17 and has reportedly offered to quit over poll drubbing. CM Yogi has also met the governor, and there are talks of big change in state cabinet to pacify some of the angry party leaders. State BJP unit may also see a change soon to accommodate the warring factions in the short term. (IPA Service)