With U.P. at the centre of the 2024 LS poll results, new book details how the BJP averted the removal of Yogi in 2021

When Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stepped out of jail on bail during the Lok Sabha campaign, his claim that Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath was in danger of losing his post like several other BJP CMs created more than a few ripples across the political firmament. Journalist Shyamlal Yadav’s new book, At the Heart of Power: The Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, now throws light on how Mr. Adityanath was indeed in danger of being replaced, back in 2021.

The book, published by Rupa Publications, is an account of the lives and tenures of 21 CMs of India’s most politically significant State. In the chapter about the current CM, Mr. Yadav writes that, in May and June of 2021, several meetings were organised both in Delhi and Lucknow to discuss whether Mr. Adityanath was to be removed from the post or not. There had been demands from BJP leaders and workers in the State to remove him for a variety of reasons, including the alienation of the Brahmin community, claims that the CM was being aloof from the party organisation, and frequent paper leaks in government recruitment exams.

There was also talk, Mr. Yadav writes, of frequent tussles between Mr. Adityanath and his deputy, Keshav Prasad Maurya. “Amid his ongoing tussle with deputy CM Maurya, after intervention from some RSS leaders, he made a surprise visit to Maurya’s residence on June 22nd, 2021 in an attempt to mend fences. Before Yogi Adityanath could be convinced about the change of leadership, the BJP assessed that if he was removed, the party would suffer,” writes Mr. Yadav.

Part of new India

The matter was finally settled when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Lucknow for a government event, met with the Chief Minister at the city’s Raj Bhawan. After the meeting on November 21, 2021, Mr. Adityanath tweeted a picture of the pair, with Mr. Modi’s hand on his shoulder, accompanied by a poem which, translated into English, reads thus: “We have started a journey with a commitment, sacrificing our body and mind, to bring a sunrise; have to go high above the sky and make a new India.”

The BJP’s current predicament in U.P. has brought this incident into sharp relief, and Mr. Adityanath is likely to be part of the State’s political future for a long time to come.