The BJP on Saturday announced that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath would contest the Assembly polls from hometown Gorakhpur, amid indications that his wish to contest from Ayodhya and emerge as the face of Hindutva had been nixed at the top.

Construction of a Ram temple on the site where the Babri Masjid stood is in full swing. Sources said Adityanath had been “very keen” to contest from the seat, eyeing the mantle of the chief ideological icon of not just the BJP but the entire Sangh parivar.

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the BJP’s election-in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, announced Adityanath’s candidature from the Gorakhpur (Urban) seat. He stressed that the decision had been taken by the BJP parliamentary board, the party’s highest decision-making body, under the leadership of “party president J.P. Nadda and the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji”.

Asked by reporters, Pradhan denied that Adityanath had expressed his wish to contest from Ayodhya.

“No, no, Yogiji had from day one said he would contest from any of the 403 seats the party wants him to. The final decision was taken by the party, and Yogiji has accepted it,” Pradhan said.

He added that deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya would contest from the Sirathu seat of Allahabad, his home turf.

The BJP on Saturday announced 105 candidates for the first two phases (February 10 and 14) of the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh polls. Pradhan said the constituencies of Adityanath and Maurya would vote in the later phases (March 3 and February 27, respectively) but their candidatures were being announced early to end “curiosity” and “speculation”.

Party insiders said Mathura had been Adityanath’s second choice after Ayodhya but the party leadership had rejected both options.

Ayodhya, Kashi (Varanasi) and Mathura have emerged as significant theatres of ideological campaign for the parivar in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

After winning the court battle to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya, the parivar has been pressing for removal of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and Idgah in Mathura, alleging they are encroaching on the premises of the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Krishna Janmasthan temple, respectively.

BJP leaders claimed that Adityanath was being fielded from a safe seat so he could devote more time to campaigning across the state.

Unofficially, party insiders cited two reasons why Adityanath had been denied Ayodhya or Mathura.

One, the "top leadership" doesn't want him to project himself as a "national Hindutva icon". Two, against the background of OBC leaders quitting the party, the leadership is wary of playing the Hindutva card too aggressively and prefers going to the polls in Modi's name, showcasing his "work for the poor".

"Modiji belongs to the OBC category and his government has done a lot of work for the poor in general, and the backward classes and Dalits in particular," a BJP leader said.

He added that the BJP campaign would underline Modi's OBC identity to counter the "Mandal politics" of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who has been forging a wide alliance of the backward and most backward classes.

Adityanath's rise holds one disconcerting aspect for some among the BJP leadership, anyway. Many in the party believe that if he retains power in Uttar Pradesh after completing a full term --- something no chief minister has done in the heartland state in decades --- he could emerge as Modi's possible successor. Such a scenario would be unpalatable for home minister Amit Shah.

On Saturday, Adityanath, who had been in Delhi two days ago, said from his ashram in Gorakhpur: "I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for giving me the ticket from Gorakhpur."

Akhilesh, however, rubbed it in, saying Adityanath's party had "sent him home" even before the voters could.

"Earlier they used to say that he (Adityanath) would fight from Ayodhya, or from Mathura or Prayagraj.... Now the BJP has sent him home to Gorakhpur," Akhilesh tweeted. "Yogi should stay there."

Adityanath's media managers had given the impression that his candidature from Ayodhya had already been decided.

His social media managers had put out posts on how "Modi represents Kashi (Varanasi) and Yogiji will represent Ayodhya", obliquely underlining his position in the hierarchy as second only to the Prime Minister's.

Sources said this too had annoyed the "top leadership", and the decision to field Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban contained a message not to be too ambitious.

Adityanath has long been angling for Ayodhya. He has since 2018 organised a highly publicised Diwali festival in the town, lighting a record number of earthen lamps every year.

But he has not been the sole BJP heavyweight seeking to appropriate for himself the ideological symbolism of Ayodhya, going by Modi's move to preside over the August 2020 bhoomi pujan to start the construction of the Ram temple.

Adityanath had been five-time MP from Gorakhpur since 1998 before resigning in 2017 when he became chief minister and getting elected to the state legislative council. This will be his first Assembly election.

Gorakhpur Urban, where Adityanath's Gorakhnath temple is located, has elected the BJP continuously since 1989 except for 2002, when Adiyanath, miffed at his loyalist being denied the ticket, helped swing the election in favour of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha.