Adityanath reinforces authority on govt, UP BJP with cabinet reshuffle

Speaking at the ceremony to lay the foundation of projects worth Rs 65,000 crore in Lucknow on July 28, BJP President Amit Shah said Yogi Adityanath was anointed Uttar Pradesh chief minister — after the BJP’s landslide win in 2017 — though he lacked administrative experience.

Not mincing words, Shah said there were people who doubted Adityanath’s capability to steer UP. Yet Prime Minister Narendra Modi persisted with the pick, the BJP chief said nonchalantly, adding Adityanath had proved his detractors wrong by delivering on governance and law and order.

Beyond candid niceties, Shah’s message unequivocally scotched speculation about any change of the guard in UP, given Adityanath’s purported rivalry with the BJP’s state Organisational Secretary Sunil Bansal and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

The recent cabinet expansion was another signal of Adityanath stamping his authority both on government and the party. Most new ministers, including eight first-time legislators, are considered close to him and they made the cut following Adityanath’s recommendation to the party high command. The impressive performance of the BJP in elections to UP local bodies and the Lok Sabha polls has fortified Adityanath’s stature in the party.

Four ministers were sacked on grounds of non-performance and complaints about impropriety even as the chief minister had warned his ministers to conduct public life with probity. In effect, Adityanath has prepared “Team Yogi” ahead of the Assembly polls in 2022 against a weak opposition landscape. The realignment of the power matrix appears to have settled in his favour as the party gears up for the coming 13 bypolls.

In 2017, Adityanath was seen as an unusual choice for the chief minister’s chair because there were quite a few names doing the rounds for the office. The names included then union minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha, then Lucknow mayor Dinesh Sharma, and then Phulpur Member of Parliament (MP) Keshav Prasad Maurya.

Not surprisingly, the UP council of ministers was a motley grouping filled with the choices of central and state BJP leaders and strategists.

However, gradually Adityanath has established himself as the topmost state leader. His unapologetic Hindutva stance, oratory, and personal integrity have been utilised by the BJP extensively in electioneering in the country, including South India and the Northeast.

“Yogi Adityanath’s position is getting stronger in the BJP and today no other leader stands equal to him in UP. In fact, he has acquired the stature of a national-level persona, given the fact that he regularly canvasses for his party in other states during elections,” social historian Badri Narayan of the G B Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, observed.

Noting that Adityanath was young, he forecast the chief minister was most likely to play a long innings in politics and attain an even greater standing nationally.

Political commentator Pramod Gowami said Adityanath was chosen to lead UP owing to his strong Hindutva credentials and deep influence in the Purvanchal region (eastern UP). “Purvanchal has over the past decade become the crux of the state polity, which explains why Modi also selected Varanasi to contest election from there,” he explained.

“The other factor that favoured Adityanath was the popular perception of his no tolerance for corruption,” he said, adding the party also wanted to groom him as a parallel “Kshatriya” leader in UP vis-à-vis Union minister Rajnath Singh and the gambit seems to be paying off.

The fact that Rajnath’s legislator son Pankaj Singh, who it was supposed would be inducted as minister, failed to make the cut has given further credence to the growing influence of Adityanath not only in the party but among RSS mandarins as well.

At the same time, Adityanath has been successful in reducing the opposition space in UP, which was not too long ago dominated by regional heavyweights such as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He has also emerged as a tough negotiator, not yielding to the pulls and pressures of BJP allies such as the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and Apna Dal (S) over the past two and a half years.

“Yogiji’s growing popularity are the fruits of his labour, diligence, and good governance. He has changed the perception about UP and today people see the state in a positive light. The people have also supported him and the party tasted success in elections despite the coalition of the opposition outfits,” UP BJP Spokesperson Chandra Mohan said.