Cracks in UP BJP? What’s unfolding in Uttar Pradesh amid CM Yogi Adityanath’s ‘rift’ with his deputy Keshav Maurya

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda met with Uttar Pradesh government’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and state unit chief Bhupender Chaudhary in the national capital late on July 16. The separate meetings were held amid reports rumblings in the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit after its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

The BJP won 33 seats in the Lok Sabha polls 2024, down from 62 it had won from the 80 UP seats in 2019 general elections. Overall, the saffron party’s seats came down from 303 in 2019 to 240 across the state in the general elections. The development comes days after Uttar Pradesh BJP Executive Committee meeting was held in the state capital Lucknow.

Yogi Adityanath Vs Keshav Prasad Maurya

Maurya, the Deputy Chief Minister, is said to have expressed differences with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Maurya, reports said, attacked the Chief Minister during the meeting and said that the organisation was bigger than the government. Maurya insisted that the government and all ministers, MLAs, and public representatives should respect party workers, according to reports.

Maurya’s outburst comes amid reports that a section of party leaders are not satisfied with the Yogi Adityanath government since they don’t get any support.

Maurya, who once eyed the CM’s post, has reportedly skipped recent cabinet meetings in protest against the Yogi Adityanath’s style of functioning.

Govt furthering party’s agenda

UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary, however, tried to downplay the differences. He said, on July 17, that his party would put its entire might to ensure an ‘emphatic’ win in the upcoming bypolls and the 2027 assembly elections.

It is a matter of pride for us that the government is taking forward the party’s agenda,” he said.

On July 15, BJP MLC Devendra Pratap Singh wrote to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath questioning the circumstances which have suddenly left to anger among the people towards the BJP government.

Reshuffle on cards?

In another instance, BJP MLA Ramesh Mishra was heard saying in a video that the party was in a ‘precarious’ state. Mishra urged the central leadership to step in.

Some reports suggested that the BJP’s central leadership was planning to undertake some changes in the party’s structure in UP owing to the reported crisis. Maurya, who is an OBC face of the party with the backing of the RSS, might be given an important organisational position in the party to resolve the crisis, according to a report in Hindustan Times.