All speculations about UP leadership were put to rest on Friday after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders in Delhi. Several political pundits, who were speculating whether the BJP will go into next year’s crucial UP assembly elections under Yogi’s leadership or not, have now got their answers. Those who were claiming that the PM was unhappy with Yogi’s style of working have now stopped speculating. It is now certain that Yogi Adityanath will be BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in the next UP assembly polls.
The fulcrum of all discussions that Yogi had with Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda in Delhi was how to prepare the road map and gear up the party organisation for the polls. Over the last few months, there have been complaints from non-political and BJP leaders from UP’s Brahmin community that they were being ignored in the state dispensation. They were told that the deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, other ministers Shrikant Sharma, Brajesh Pathak and Rita Bahuguna belonged to Brahmin community, but these leaders complained that though they were part of the government, they had no say in the ruling dispensation. The party leadership has promised that the Brahmin community will not be ignored any more. Moreover, the party high command is also listening to the grievances of Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal, who represents the OBC Kurmi community. Talks were held with Sanjay Nishad, who represents the most backward Mallah (boatmen) community. The party leadership is addressing issues relating to caste equation in view of the forthcoming polls.
About Yogi Adityanath, I can only say that it is not an easy task to project a leader acceptable to all on national level. During the past 2-3 years, BJP lost several national stalwarts like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Manoj Parrikar. In the last five years, Amit Shah emerged as a powerful national leader. He left an indelible imprint by spearheading the party in scoring incredible success in the last UP assembly and Lok Sabha elections. After becoming the UP CM, Yogi Adityanath too left his own imprint on the national level during the last 3-4 years. He became part of BJP’s national identity and was made star campaigners during the Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and Karnataka assembly polls. It would be incorrect to speculate that the BJP leadership would sideline Yogi by removing him from UP leadership. Prime Minister Narendra Modi realizes that it takes years for a leader to gain national prominence and such leaders must be used to the optimum by the party in widening its political base.
Why did Mukul Roy go back to Mamta?
Meanwhile, there was political development in West Bengal, where BJP vice-president Mukul Roy and his son returned to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress on Friday. Mukul Roy was the first Trinamool leader to quit the party in 2017 and joined the BJP. His exit triggered an exodus of MLAs and other leaders from TMC to BJP before the Bengal assembly polls.
Mukul Roy won the assembly election on BJP ticket from Krishnagar South. With Mamata retaining power by a huge majority, the reverse exodus has now begun. Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that she would welcome homecoming of those leaders who have behave properly even after joining the BJP. Mukul Roy continues to be an accused in Saradha scam and Narada sting.
Roy probably left the TMC, because he expected that the CBI would avoid putting the heat on him, and secondly, since there was no big leader in Bengal BJP, he would be projected as the chief ministerial candidate. Neither of his expectations materialized. He continues to be an accused in both scams and the BJP did not project him as a CM candidate. With BJP’s defeat in assembly polls, Mukul Roy now had another task in his hand. He wants to project his son in state politics.
Moreover, Mukul Roy was peeved when Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, was made the Leader of Opposition. Trinamool Congress was keeping a close watch on him. Throughout the election campaign, Mukul Roy never uttered a word against Mamata Banerjee. When Roy’s son posted on his Facebook timeline that state BJP leader should stop criticizing Mamata and her party, now that she has won, Trinamool Congress caught the right signals, and invited the father-son duo to join the party. Mukul Roy can now at least hope that his son would now have a safe political future under Mamata’s leadership.