Radha Mohan Singh, BJP national vice-president and party-in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, met governor Anandiben Patel for about 30 minutes on Sunday.

BJP sources said Singh had an envelope in his hand when he had gone to the Raj Bhavan.

“I had not met the governor ever since she came to Uttar Pradesh and so it was a courtesy call,” Singh told reporters.

Four hours later, Singh went to the residence of Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit and held another 30-minute meeting.

Asked about the rumour that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah were unhappy with chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s working, Singh told reporters: “We have the strongest organisation and a popular government in Uttar Pradesh. There are government committees to which 17,000 party workers have been nominated.”

Sources said Modi wants Adityanath to make Arvind Kumar Sharma a minister in his cabinet but the chief minister is delaying it.

Sharma, a former IAS officer who had worked with Modi in Gujarat and New Delhi for about two decades, was elected a member of a state legislative council (MLC) in January 2021. Since then, he has been looking after Varanasi, Modi’s parliamentary constituency.

When Dixit was asked about Sunday’s meeting, he said: “Radha Mohan Singh is my old friend. He is also an old colleague. I liked it when he called me in the morning and said he would meet me. We mostly discussed literature and ancient history today.”

However, such explanations have not been able to put the lid on rumours that Modi and Shah are in favour of a change of guard in Uttar Pradesh.

Ambrish Kumar, a veteran journalist, said: “We cannot say what exactly is going to happen but Modi is in the habit of giving surprises. The defeat of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is definite in today’s situation when the government has completely failed in Covid-19 management.”

“We need to see how Modi brings the government and the BJP out of this crisis of trust deficit. However, in case Adityanath is removed as the chief minister, then only the Prime Minister would be blamed if the BJP loses in 2022 and Modi knows this very well,” he added.

“I also believe that the actual fight in the BJP is to become number two. A silent war is going on between Shah and Adityanath,” Kumar said.

When asked, state BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh echoed Radha Mohan and said: “The government of Yogi is working excellently. It is a people’s government.”

Later, asked about reports of an imminent cabinet expansion, Radha Mohan told PTI: “No expansion is going to take place now…. When it takes place, it will be known.”

He also denied there was a rift between Modi and Adityanath, saying: “In fact, we are of the view that Yogiji is the most competent person to fulfil the dreams of Modiji.”

The BJP vice-president dismissed as a “figment of imagination” reports of a possible change of leadership in the government or party.

“This is a figment of imagination. No question arises of this. Both the government and the organisation are working fine,” he said.