Yogi Adityanath visited the residence of deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Tuesday for the first time since taking over as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in March 2017.

Observers believe that Adityanath is trying to buy peace with Maurya, who had said last week that the central leadership of the BJP would choose the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

“It is the central leadership of the BJP which takes decisions on such issues. They will decide the chief minister after the 2022 Assembly election results are announced,” Maurya had told reporters, when asked whether Adityanath would be the chief minister again.

Maurya is considered a rival of Adityanath. He was the state BJP president when the party won in 2017. The central leadership had chosen Adityanath for the post of chief minister.

“The residence of Maurya is barely 20 metres from the gate of Adityanath’s official residence. But the chief minister didn’t go there ever, not even during the wedding ceremony of Maurya’s son last month. As we all know, Maurya wanted to become chief minister in 2017 but Amit Shah, the then national president of the BJP, had chosen Adityanath. Obviously, Maurya is still not happy,” said a BJP leader who didn’t want to be named.

Samajwadi Party spokesperson Sunil Sajan said: “There is a war going on between the chief minister and deputy chief minister and the people of the state are suffering. While the people were dying during the second wave of Covid-19, these two leaders were busy in fighting with each other for the post of the chief minister.”

The BJP leader added: “We have been asked to say that the chief minister had gone there to bless the newly wed couple. The chief minister was there for about 35 minutes and took some snacks. We have heard from our sources that some senior organisational leaders had asked the chief minister to meet Maurya at his residence and resolve the contentious issues between them before it is too late for 2022 Assembly elections.”

RSS leaders Krishna Gopal and Dattatreya Hosabale were also seen coming out of the residence of the deputy chief minister after Adityanath.

B.L. Santhosh, BJP national general secretary, and Radha Mohan Singh, the party’s national vice-president, are in Lucknow since Monday and are holding meetings with the organisational leaders of different wings of the RSS and the BJP to chalk out their strategy for the Assembly polls.

Labour and employment minister Swam Prasad Maurya had said on Monday: “The central leadership of the BJP will decide the next chief minister. It may be Adityanath but it may also happen that somebody else would be chosen for the job.”