Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak are expected to together attend the Niti Aayog meeting in Delhi on Saturday.

Adityanath left for Delhi on Friday; Maurya and Pathak are expected to do so
on Saturday.

All three have never before participated in a Niti Aayog meeting together. Speculation is therefore rife that they have been summoned to Delhi to thresh out the turf war between Adityanath and Maurya, brought into the open by the BJP’s poor showing in the general election from Uttar Pradesh.

Maurya is said to have the backing of the central leadership, believed to be keen to get rid of Adityanath to ensure a smooth succession for home minister Amit Shah when Prime Minister Narendra Modi hangs up his boots.

BJP sources said Adityanath would submit a report on the Lok Sabha election results to Modi, Shah and party national president J.P. Nadda after the Niti Aayog meeting.

“To the best of our knowledge, he has said in the report that some senior BJP leaders worked against the party’s own candidates,” a source said. “He has also alleged that many candidates constantly misbehaved with party workers and voters, and banked on him (Adityanath) and Modi to ensure their victory.”

Adityanath held region-wise meetings with party MLAs over the last few days to prepare the report, which is apparently meant to counter those submitted to the high command by Maurya and state BJP president Bhupendra Chaudhary.

Maurya and Chaudhary are said to have blamed the highhandedness of the bureaucracy for the poor poll showing, saying party workers had withdrawn from electioneering after being mistreated by officials. This is an oblique attack on Adityanath, whom many in the BJP accuse of giving precedence to bureaucrats over party MLAs.

On Thursday, Maurya stayed away from Adityanath’s meeting with party MLAs from the Allahabad division. However, the chief minister met Pallavi Patel, Apna Dal (K) MLA from Sirathu, Kaushambi, who had defeated Maurya in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Maurya, now an MLC, had been assigned to campaign for party nominees in his native Allahabad division during the general election. But the BJP was defeated in most of the seats, including Allahabad and Kaushambi, his current and ancestral home districts. The BJP also lost in neighbouring Jaunpur, Pratapgarh and Machhlishahr.

In contrast, the party won the majority of seats in Adityanath’s home turf of eastern Uttar Pradesh, where the chief minister campaigned. These include Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Maharajganj
and Domariyaganj.