Uttar Pradesh: Deputy CM Maurya's Power Play Against Yogi Adityanath Leaves BJP With Work To Do

Uttar Pradesh (UP) Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's recent moves have sparked speculations: Does he want to sideline Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath? Is he eyeing a bigger role within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)?

The latest such instance was his statement at the UP BJP's Karyasamiti meet on 14 July, where he said, "Sangathan sarkar se bada hai (The organisation is bigger than the government)."

While many political observers didn't make much of the statement, taking it as emphasising the organisation's role with the intention to boost the morale of BJP workers, some believed the remark was meant to undermine Adityanath's position.

Notably, the UP Chief Minister, who spoke at the event after Maurya, was quick to revert, though indirectly.

He said the BJP occupies positions at all levels of governance, and if any of it is affected, the whole organisation will be affected.

However, Maurya's hostility to Adityanath is not confined to the BJP meeting.

He has skipped two UP cabinet meetings (11 June and 2 July) despite being the state's deputy and attended only one on 25 June since the Lok Sabha election results.

During the 11 June meeting, Maurya was in New Delhi. He had been there for days since the declaration of the Lok Sabha election results on 4 June.

He had met the party's national general secretary B L Santhosh and national president J P Nadda. He had also met Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, and Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi.

Maurya, hailing from the Other Backward Class (OBC) and the most electorally important state, UP, was speculated to be in the race to replace Nadda, whose term ended on 30 June, as BJP national president.

However, since the BJP has now decided to choose a national president by December, Maurya has started focusing on state politics. He has been meeting several BJP leaders daily for a month.

On 15 July, he met NISHAD party chief Sanjay Nishad, his son Praveen Nishad, who lost the Lok Sabha election from Sant Kabir Nagar on a BJP ticket, former Muzaffarnagar member of Parliament (MP) Sanjeev Balyan, and former Khatauli member of legislative assembly (MLA) Vikram Saini.

Soon after the meeting, Sanjay Nishad praised Maurya and criticised Adityanath's 'bulldozer politics'. He also backed Maurya's statement that the organisation is bigger than government and criticised the bureaucrats of the state.

Similarly, Balyan is known to hold grudges against the UP Chief Minister. He blames former Sardhana MLA Sangeet Som for his loss. Som is a Rajput by caste and considered close to Adityanath. The Rajput ire is one of the reasons for Balyan's loss.

As for Saini, he was disqualified as an MLA over his conviction in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case. His wife then contested the bypolls, but lost to Rashtriya Lok Dal's (RLD) Madan Bhaiya. Since the BJP and RLD are in alliance now, Saini might have met Maurya to explore possibilities for his political future.

Similarly, Sanjay Nishad might have met him to secure a ticket for the NISHAD party in the upcoming bypolls in Majhawan. It is learnt that due to Praveen Nishad's loss in the Lok Sabha election, the BJP is in no mood to let the NISHAD party contest in Majhawan.

However, Sanjay Nishad stakes a claim to the seat because it was vacated by NISHAD party MLA Vinod Kumar Bind upon winning the Lok Sabha election from Bhadohi.

Adityanath is supervising the bypolls for 10 state assembly seats. But instead of appealing to him directly, Sanjay Nishad chose to have negotiations with Maurya, which shows that the Deputy Chief Minister is trying to emerge as another power centre in the state.

Those dissatisfied with the Chief Minister are approaching Maurya. Former MPs like Ravindra Kushwaha, R K Singh Patel, Raghav Lakhanpal, Sangam Lal Gupta, and Rajesh Verma, who recently lost the Lok Sabha election, also met Maurya.

It is pertinent to mention that Maurya aspired to become chief minister of UP after the 2017 election, as he was the state BJP president at the time. The BJP had secured a majority under his leadership. However, Adityanath was chosen for the post.

Maurya then became the deputy and held on to the post even after his loss in Sirathu of Kaushambi district in the 2022 assembly election by becoming a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC).

The BJP could not retain Kaushambi Lok Sabha seat (Maurya's home district) in this election. Also, many OBC voters (Maurya is an OBC) drifted away from the BJP in this Lok Sabha election.

Hence, this power posturing might be a survival tactic adopted by Maurya. He might want to display his importance before the party takes any action against him. He might also be eyeing the UP BJP president's post.

Another report suggests that since Jitin Prasada has joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers as a Minister of State (MoS), Maurya wants to take over the Public Works Department (PWD) that Prasada held in the UP government. The PWD portfolio is currently with Adityanath.

While it is unclear what Maurya wants exactly, it is clear he has started to flex his muscles ahead of the 2027 assembly election. It remains to be seen if the BJP can manage him well to the party's advantage.