Are Yogi’s days numbered in UP? Vital decision to avoid outbursts in party

LUCKNOW: It is almost clear that Yogi Adityanath's days as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister are numbered. BJP state chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary met the Prime Minister yesterday. There are unconfirmed reports that he had offered to step down from the post. He apprised the Prime Minister about the organizational issues that affect even the party's future in Uttar Pradesh, which is crucial for the BJP. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya met BJP National President J P Nadda the other day. Reports said Maurya had informed Nadda that he would like to resign from the post of deputy chief minister and continue as an ordinary worker.

There were differences of opinion between Maurya and Yogi for quite some time. There were reports earlier that Maurya had indicated at party platforms that many of the schemes implemented by Yogi would shake the party's base in the state. The flaming issue came to light with the party's pathetic performance in the Lok Sabha elections. Anti-Yogi campaigners are circulating that Yogi gave too much freedom to the officials and they turned against the party during the elections and this is the reason for the poor performance.

A recent party event attended by national president Nadda became the venue for a spat between Yogi and Maurya. Referring to the poor performance of the state, Maurya said that the organization is bigger than the government and no one can be bigger than the organization. Yogi hit back saying that overconfidence was the reason for the party's poor performance. With this, the party national president himself realized how deep the rift between the two is. It is reported that Nadda, who reached Delhi, informed the Prime Minister and Amit Shah about this. It is not clear whether the meeting between the Prime Minister and the party state president took place in the context of this.

In the context of the new developments, the top brass including Modi may meet Yogi soon. There will be decisive decisions in this. The leadership is also afraid that if the central leadership does not intervene in the situation where the majority of the BJP MLAs have demanded immediate intervention in the state, it may lead to an explosion in the state unit of the party. Yogi opponents are adamant that they will not be satisfied with anything other than a change in the leadership. Reports said the decision will be taken after considering Yogi's words. However, it will not be that easy for the BJP to sideline Yogi, who has the support of the RSS.