Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi from his “hridaytal” (bottom of his heart) for taking out time to meet him, amid indications of a determined effort by the top leadership to rein in the bellicose saffron-robed monk.
The one-hour meeting with Modi came after a much longer one-on-one with home minister Amit Shah, considered the second most powerful leader of the current regime, on Thursday.
Summoned by the party high command, Adityanath had dashed to Delhi on Thursday amid reports of a simmering discontent in the state unit over his style of leadership in the run-up to the Assembly elections early next year.
“Today (Friday), I had the privilege of meeting respected PM Modi and get his guidance. I thank him from the bottom of my heart for taking out time from his busy schedule for the meeting and the counsel,” Adityanath tweeted in Hindi after the meeting. He had posted a similar tweet after meeting Shah.
After meeting the top two leaders, Adityanath called on BJP chief J.P. Nadda. Later, Shah and Nadda reached the Prime Minister’s residence and were huddled, apparently to give final shape to the “course-correction” measures to be adopted by Adityanath to strengthen the party’s prospect in the Assembly polls.
While the meetings have largely been seen as a desperate preparatory exercise to retain politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, party insiders have hinted at a below-the-radar effort to rein in Adityanath, who has been apparently positioning himself as Modi’s successor.
Adityanath is widely seen as the new darling of the BJP’s core aggressive Hindutva brigade, reflecting similarities with the “Hindu Hriday Samrat” image of Modi after the Gujarat communal riots.
This rise of Adityanath, according to insiders, has spread unease at the top in Delhi and also within a strong section of the Uttar Pradesh leadership. The disquiet over his “assertive” and “autocratic” ways has now taken the shape of charges against him.
The chief minister was summoned to Delhi after an extensive review by the BJP central leadership and the RSS based on feedback from ministers, lawmakers, MPs and party leaders.
The review reports have highlighted Adityanath’s “one-man-show” style of functioning, sources said.
State ministers and party leaders have accused the chief minister of not taking everybody along, remaining “inaccessible” and ignoring the scope of genuine suggestions.
Allegations of bias towards his caste men, the Kshatriyas or Thakurs, have also been levelled against Adityanath.
The suppressed misgivings erupted during the recent Covid crisis when the state government was accused of missing in action on the ground, leading many elected representatives of the BJP to publicly vent their ire against Adityanath.
These complaints prompted the central leadership to send review teams to Lucknow to assess Adityanath’s performance on various fronts and the party’s prospect in the upcoming polls.
The below-expectation performance in the recent panchayat polls, with party-backed candidates losing in Hindutva pockets such as Ayodhya and Mathura, also led the top brass to put Adityanath under the scanner.
Sources said the review reports have now enabled the top leadership to push “course-correction” measures in the form of some key changes in the government and the party’s state organisation and use them to rein in the emerging Hindutva face.
Sources said Adityanath, during his meetings with Shah and Modi, presented report cards to defend his performance on key fronts and the way he managed to control Covid in the state after the initial surge.
Despite apparent misgivings, the top brass has ruled out the option of replacing Adityanath but is determined to put brakes on the leader, who seems to be aiming too high, if he returns to power again.
How to achieve this difficult task is a question wrangling the top two leaders, according to indications emerging from party corridors.
