Saffron storm

Dissension in UP has its roots in Delhi

- SHARAT PRADHAN

THE BJP IS A divided house in Uttar Pradesh. The war within the party was out in the open earlier this month, when Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, an influential OBC leader, spoke up against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. His action reflected his antipathy to Yogi, whom he apparently wants deposed.

Maurya has the support of the party's Brahmin lobby under Brajesh Pathak, the other deputy chief minister. Their common grudge against Yogi is that the chief minister does not look beyond himself and his Thakur community.

If voices against Yogi are getting louder, it could not be happening without Delhi's blessings. But what turned the BJP's top brass against Yogi, whom it had anointed as chief minister in 2017? Yogi was neither Narendra Modi's choice in the first place, nor could his success stories about "transforming" UP impress the prime minister. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had pushed Yogi's name in 2017 simply as a compromise candidate in place of Modi's choice, Manoj Sinha, against whom the powerful RSS leader Krishna Gopal had strong reservations. And it was widely believed that both Modi and Shah had no plans to give Yogi a long stint.

However, backed by the massive following of his 'Nath' congregation, Yogi reinforced himself. He played the aggressive hindutva card in which his bulldozer policy came in handy. He retained power in the 2022 assembly polls, emerging as the only chief minister in decades to get a second consecutive term in Uttar Pradesh.