A major cabinet reshuffle is likely in Uttar Pradesh, as several reports claim that there is infighting within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) state unit. Dramatic changes are imminent in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet, according to the reports.
Sources told India Today that apart from the cabinet rejig, a “big change” is also likely to happen in the BJP’s state unit. These changes might happen after the assembly by-elections, India Today and Lokmat, among others, reported.
These reports surfaced ahead of the assembly by-polls which are scheduled to happen soon in 10 constituencies in UP. These will be the first by-polls in the state after the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in which the ruling BJP performed poorly. The saffron party was reduced to 33 seats in UP, a drop of 29 seats from 2019.
How did it all start, and what do we know so far?
1. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s cryptic post on X on Monday caused a flutter in political circles. In the post, the Deputy CM’s office quoted Maurya as saying, “The organisation is bigger than the government. The pain of the workers is my pain. No one is bigger than the organisation; the workers are the pride.”
The quote was part of Maurya’s address during the BJP’s working committee meeting in Lucknow on Sunday. Maurya had made the remarks in the presence of CM Adityanath and BJP’s national president JP Nadda, while the chief minister blamed “over-confidence” for the electoral reverses in the state and suggested that the party could not effectively counter the opposition INDIA bloc’s campaign.
Party organization is bigger than govt, workers should be respected: Hon’ble Deputy CM Shri @kpmaurya1 Ji @narendramodi @JPNadda @PMOIndia @BJP4India @BJP4UP
Read more… pic.twitter.com/5YubPKRYXN
— Office of Keshav Prasad Maurya (@OfficeOfKPM) July 15, 2024
2. Maurya’s comment at the state party meeting that “organisation is always bigger than government and no one can be bigger than the organisation” was seen by many political watchers as a message to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. According to PTI, Maurya’s differences with Adityanath are widely acknowledged even within the party.
3. The report added that in private conversations, a number of Uttar Pradesh BJP leaders, including those who lost in the Lok Sabha polls, have been critical of the chief minister’s working style and cited it as one of the reasons for their loss.
4. Following the post, BJP president JP Nadda met Maurya in Delhi on Tuesday. Nadda also held a separate meeting with Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupender Chaudhary.
#WATCH | BJP National President and Union Minister JP Nadda leaves from BJP headquarters in Delhi after concluding a meeting with the party’s Uttar Pradesh president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and the state deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya. pic.twitter.com/911acVdejt
— ANI (@ANI) July 16, 2024
5. Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, sources told news agency PTI and is believed to have briefed him on a host of issues related to the party’s organisational matters in the politically crucial state. Sources told NDTV that Chaudhary “has taken responsibility for the party’s poor show and offered to step down during the meeting” with PM Modi.
6. Sources also said the BJP is looking forward to having an OBC leader as its state chief as it prepares for the 2027 UP assembly elections. The incumbent Chaudhary is a Jat leader from Moradabad. Notably, OBCs account for a significant chunk of UP’s population and are a key factor in elections.
7. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath met Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel at Raj Bhavan in Lucknow amid signs of trouble in the BJP’s state unit.
#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath meets Governor Anandiben Patel in Raj Bhavan, Lucknow. pic.twitter.com/os5S6ZgzI9
— ANI (@ANI) July 17, 2024
8. Will Yogi Adityanath be replaced as UP CM? Lokmat reported on Wednesday that there is no possibility of replacing the chief minister. However, there’s a possibility of a change in the UP cabinet and the BJP’s party organisation.
9. Reacting to UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya’s post on X stating “Organisation bigger than government”, BJP MP Ravi Kishan said, “He has said correct…Organisation only forms the party…” Meanwhile, BJP leader BL Verma reacted to Keshav Prasad Maurya’s meeting with party president JP Nadda and said, “It was a regular meeting.”
UP assembly by-polls
The 10 assembly seats, which are set to go to polls, are Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).
Nine of the 10 seats fell vacant after the MLAs resigned following their victory in the Lok Sabha polls. Prominent among these seats is Karhal (Mainpuri), which fell vacant after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav resigned following his election to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party’s Irfan Solanki’s Sisamau assembly seat in Kanpur Nagar was declared vacant following his disqualification in view of his seven-year imprisonment by an MP/MLA court.
The Election Commission is likely to announce the date for the by-polls soon.
