FIXING THE FAULT LINES

YOGI ADITYANATH AND THE BJP GET POLL-READY IN UTTAR PRADESH WITH A MIX OF HINDUTVA, DALIT OUTREACH AND ADMINISTRATIVE DAMAGE CONTROL

- Ashish Misra

On June 22, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath visited his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya’s home in Lucknow. The occasion apparently was a feast thrown by Maurya to celebrate his son Yogesh’s wedding in Raebareli a month ago. Senior RSS leaders, such as sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale, sah sarkaryavah Krishna Gopal and kshetriya pracharak Anil Kumar, and Dinesh Sharma, the other deputy chief minister of UP, were in attendance. Adityanath blessed the newly-wed and exchanged sweets with Maurya.

The optics and political signalling of the event were hard to miss. With the assembly election in UP less than nine months away, the RSS functionaries had come down to Lucknow to try and ease tensions between Adityanath and Maurya. The two have never been at ease with each other throughout the Yogi government’s current term, which began in March 2017. Though they are neighbours, this was the first time Adityanath had dropped in at Maurya’s residence. Only a week ago, Maurya had issued a statement challenging Adityanath. He said the BJP central command had yet to decide who would lead the party in the forthcoming election. After the lunch meeting at his residence, Maurya appeared reconciliatory. “Yogiji will remain our chief minister. There is no room for any controversy on this,” he said.

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