Political heatwave in Lucknow cools with Yogi deputies falling in line

Yogi Adityanath prevails amid intense speculations in BJP

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, July 30: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath appears to be in firm command of the state government. His deputies, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak joined the state Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Both the deputy chief ministers with their actions and utterances had been stoking political speculations in Lucknow almost for a month. They were skipping the Cabinet meetings in recent days.

But Maurya and Pathak attended the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Both looked jovial in photographs that emerged out of the Cabinet meeting.

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The apparent falling in line of both the deputy chief ministers with Adityanath has come close in the heels of the Chief Ministers’ Council of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled stated in the national capital over the last weekend. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken part in the meeting of CMs at the BJP headquarters.

The BJP CMs’ council meeting had also seen presentation by Adityanath. The apparent truce appears to have come amid hectic political parleys in Lucknow and New Delhi.

Maurya had been vocal in spotlighting the importance of the organisation, while he had stayed in the national capital at a time when the Noida-based television channels floated the idea that the position of Adityanath could be sticky.

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Maurya had skipped meetings this month called by the UP chief minister for the preparations of the Assembly byelections. Adityanath has tasked his ministers to man 10 Assembly constituencies which are headed for bypolls.

The BJP had held three of the bypoll-bound Assembly seats. Yet, the bypoll will be crucial for the UP chief minister in the backdrop of the electoral drubbing of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP was able to win just 33 Lok Sabha seats.

With Maurya and Pathak attending the Cabinet meeting in Lucknow, the message appears clear that the Central BJP leadership has come onboard with Adityanath. The role of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) in finding peace in the state is also not ruled out.

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A few of the top-ranking RSS functionaries had recently toured Uttar Pradesh. While Adityanath is yet to have a one-on-one meeting with the prime minister after the Lok Sabha poll verdict, Maurya had met Modi during the raging speculations over the fate of the UP chief minister.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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