The slight tremor in Uttar Pradesh politics speaks on a fault line that may escalate if not handled carefully. Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi faces a double whammy there.

First, his performance in handling Covid`s second wave is under the lens of Nagpur, and going by the sponsored features in televisions, he has done it. But ground realities differ.

Secondly, irritants for him at the political front. An issue that keeps him and the central leadership at a sort of logger-heads. Does Uttar Pradesh politics require a second in command or the Centre just want that? Yogi is not happy about that.

 Be it in the country or in UP particularly, both are said to be under the Sangh radar. The sudden decision to select a top man from Nagpur to oversee the goings in UP, perhaps, is not for nothing.

In whose radar will be fact sheets on pandemic and secondly, the rumoured bickering within the government there.

Zipping In Mouth

The selection of Dattatreya Hosabale, the man in waiting for the next top man in Sangh Parivar, may have raised a few eyebrows in the BJP and among the cadres in the state.

“The bickering within the party is no more a secret and air dashing of Hosabale so early has reasons behind the decision from Nagpur” said Aamir Haque, a senior journalist in Lucknow.

From the early days of Yogi’s ascendency as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the differences between the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Adityanath Yogi had caught the attention of the political observers.

And the moot cause was the “diktat from Nagpur supporting Yogi to head the politically most important state had not gone well with the Modi supporters because the latter had its thumb in support of Manoj Sinha” adds Haque.

There are rumours as well that, sending such a senior person from the Nagpur headquarters so much in advance may not just to fix a lens on Yogi’s performance but to try for a truce between the both.

UP The Decider

It goes without saying that, UP is the state which plays the deciding role in Central politics and the rulers. And if Yogi retains BJP’s hold over UP or betters it then, so many things may happen as to who would be the next face of Hindutva.

Hosabale succeeds or not, but the bone of contention is the alleged imposition of Arvind Sharma, MLC, and obviously who enjoys the goodwill of Modi, in a certain politically administrative post,  to which Yogi was not happy. And that gap still remains to be bridged.

 “ From within the BJP in Lucknow, it was talk in the political circle that, New Delhi wanted that, Sharma be the next in command in UP, may be as the deputy chief minister but it has stuck mid-way,” Haque said. 

It has been observed that, Yogi has his own way of handling things and hardly brooks any external interjection. And he is yet to be in tune with the things set by the Union Home Ministry as and when. This clearly shows his reluctance to be part of the trio, with two at the centre and he, in UP. 

None had expected that Yogi would be catapulted for the top job in UP and nobody either knows what would transpire after the 2024 General elections as to who could be Nagpur’s next choice to become the face of the nation.

Popularity Clash

Although Prime Minister  Narendra Modi is still the most popular face in India and abroad as well and to outsmart him through any calculation of political yardstick is difficult.

Because the chemistry between Modi-Shah-Yogi appears a bit bellicose in essence although it always does not surface at the top. Yogi, ostensibly tries to measure himself up to a national leader.

So the UP elections would be a crucial factor not only for Yogi but for the BJP, as well, at the Centre. And which may set the course for BJP politics in India in 2024.

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