Yogi's citadel

As Adityanath’s supremacy is a settled matter in the BJP, the opposition will have to try a lot harder to put up a fight in the assembly elections

- PUJA AWASTHI

YOGI ADITYANATH GREW in strength and stature by opposing what he perceived was the BJP’s dilution of the hindutva ideology. The Hindu Yuva Vahini, a far-right outfit, was his answer to this dilution. He was open in his defiance of the BJP in his first decade in politics, going as far as opposing the party’s official candidates. He has not changed much even after the BJP made him the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

The BJP has 304 members in the 403-member UP assembly. Its closest rival, the Samajwadi Party, has only 49. While political wisdom says disadvantages of anti-incumbency will reduce the BJP’s numbers, it looks thus far that the party will retain power in the elections expected in February.

Adityanath has weathered many a storm as chief minister. The strongest of them was in January when Arvind Kumar Sharma, a bureaucrat from the Gujarat cadre, took voluntary retirement to join the party and moved to UP. Sharma was said to be the eyes and ears of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sent to keep a watch on Adityanath. The position of a deputy chief minister was also touted as a distinct possibility.

Adityanath was unperturbed. And Sharma had to be content with being the vice president of the party’s state unit, an ornamental post at best. It subtly showed the central leadership how difficult it was to override Adityanath’s wishes in UP.