Jitters in UP BJP; Yogi Adityanath, deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya differ on poor Lok Sabha poll show

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 16

BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit is grappling with anxieties amid divergent views of CM Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya over factors behind the party’s underwhelming Lok Sabha election performance.

Amid these tensions, Maurya held a late-night meeting with BJP chief JP Nadda at the party headquarters here after which state UP chief Bhupendra Chaudhry also met Nadda.

Sources did not disclose the agenda for the meeting, but said it was in the light of impending organisational changes in the party following the LS elections.

Though the BJP recently changed in-charges and co in-charges in most states, it didn’t touch UP, where Baijayant Panda is the in-charge at present.

Maurya’s meeting set off speculation over motives as it followed the Sunday BJP UP executive meeting in Lucknow where Yogi attributed BJP’s win in just 33 out of 80 seats to “overconfidence and shift of votes”, while Maurya flagged workers’ disenchantment as a reason.

Maurya told the meeting that the party was “greater than the government and ministers, and MLAs must ensure the dignity of workers”. “Your pain is my pain,” he said, drawing huge applause.

The central and state BJP have been at pains to explain the party’s UP setback since result day on June 4 with saffron sources indicating changes to the UP party organisation but terming any immediate threat to CM Yogi unlikely in the wake of the looming Parliament Session, Budget and Assembly polls in Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhi.

Maurya’s meeting with Nadda assumes significance as it comes after Maurya flagged a distant UP government and party relationship as major concern in the state even as the CM defended his leadership, saying the BJP had managed to garner the same amount of votes in the 2024 LS cycle as it did in 2014 and subsequent cycles, but “shifting of votes and overconfidence undermined the party’s prospects in 2024”.

The overconfidence line was meant for 55 of the sitting 62 who were re-nominated to contest by the central BJP and many lost. As of today, Yogi looked firmly in the saddle addressing marathon meetings in UP.