Is the BJP top brass miffed with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath? Is the central leadership giving Yogi the cold shoulder? What if the BJP decides to drop Yogi as the chief ministerial face for next year’s crucial UP elections and replace him with someone else? Is PM Modi himself angry with Yogi Adityanath? Why did Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and J P Nadda not wish Yogi Adityanath publicly on Saturday for his birthday? Is everything alright in the saffron camp?
Conspiracy theories have been abound for the past many days of a possible rift between Yogi Adityanath and the BJP’s central leadership. Such rumours were only exacerbated on Saturday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President JP Nadda were not seen extending public greetings to the UP-chief minister on his birthday. Leftists and those who are hoping for a BJP defeat in Uttar Pradesh had a field day as a consequence.
It was almost as if they believed the BJP was dropping Yogi Adityanath as the chief ministerial face of their campaign. Nothing else mattered to them. Liberals were just too happy to pay attention to the facts. The fact, however, is that the said national leaders have not been extending birthday greetings publicly for quite some time now.
A few prominent examples include senior minister in the Modi cabinet, Nitin Gadkari’s birthday on May 27, cabinet colleague Thawarchand Gehlot’s birthday on May 18 and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s birthday on May 24. The prime minister also did not wish Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on May 3, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar on May 5.
According to News18, in view of the seriousness of the second Covid wave and the kind of damage it has done to the lives and livelihood of people, the top brass of the BJP wants to sound extremely sensitive towards the citizens, and extending public greetings runs contrary to that approach. The BJP has firmly ruled out the possibility of a change in leadership in Uttar Pradesh and dismissed reports that Yogi Adityanath’s government is in jeopardy over its handling of the Covid-19 situation.
Read More: ‘Maharashtra must learn from UP,’ Bombay High Court praises the Covid model of Yogi Adityanath
Yogi Adityanath is among Prime Minister Modi’s favourites. To think that the BJP is beginning to get uncomfortable with him is an infantile proposition. BJP General Secretary BL Santosh last Tuesday tweeted high praises for Yogi Adityanath and his handling of the pandemic. Rest assured; the BJP is going forward with Yogi Adityanath as the face of the party in Uttar Pradesh. What seemed an uncontrollable surge of Covid-19 infections a month ago has been brought down to merely 1,000 new daily infections now.
Yogi Adityanath has turned the state of Uttar Pradesh around and saved it from a much bigger crisis. There is no question of him being replaced with anyone else as the state’s chief minister next year.
