Just last week, his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi triggered a buzz and raised curiosity in the BJP circles. However, two days later, the UP government came out with new rules for the appointment of the Director General of Police, a move that virtually frees it from any interference from the Centre in this matter.
Sources close to the CM told ThePrint that Adityanath had himself informed the PM about the move and the latter gave the go-ahead.
This was just the latest indicator of Adityanath regaining supremacy in the state. In July, the CM was seen as having had his way when Manoj Kumar Singh, known to be close to him, was appointed as UP chief secretary.
Significantly, Adityanath has also been backed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP’s ideological mentor.
On 26 October, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale spoke about Adityanath’s controversial remark ‘batenge toh katenge’ (will be slaughtered if divided), asserting that the slogan calling for the Hindu unity had been the lifetime pledge of the Sangh.
Hosabale’s statement came a few days after the UP CM had a two-hour meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Mathura. Adityanath had given the slogan at Agra in August.
The silence of Adityanath’s two deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak is also testimony to the CM being given full charge ahead of bypolls to nine assembly seats.
Maurya, long critical of the CM and who had led the narrative of ‘sanghatan versus sarkar‘, has gone completely silent in the past few weeks. Pathak, who is considered close to the BJP central leadership, has also not made any statement which may undermine Adityanath.
A senior functionary in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) told ThePrint: “’It is the statement (batenge toh katenge) which has created a narrative not only for the UP bypolls, but also for Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. People are talking about it, from social media to the streets.”
“The ‘PDA’ (reference to pichchde, Dalit and alpsankhyak, coined by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav) and ‘samvidhan bachao’ (save the Constitution) narrative has been sidelined by one statement of Yogi. This shows his popularity. So, how can anyone think of replacing such a firebrand leader?” he asked, adding that had “Adityanath been given a free hand during the Lok Sabha polls, the results would have been different”.
Sources in the CMO also said that Maurya and a few other senior BJP leaders in UP had been hopeful of a leadership change, but nothing happened because of Adityanath’s popularity and closeness with the Sangh.
In July, at the BJP’s state executive meeting, Maurya had said: “The sangathan (party organisation) was, is, and will always be above the sarkar (government).”
The statement had drawn cheers from the BJP functionaries present.
Maurya had also indicated that BJP workers were unhappy with the state government.
“Your (workers’) pain and my pain are similar,” he had said, hinting that workers were not being accorded due respect under the Adityanath government and that this was one of the reasons behind the party’s poor electoral performance.
BJP chief J.P. Nadda was present at the state executive meeting in Lucknow, and he called Maurya and BJP’s UP president Bhupendra Chaudhary to meet him in New Delhi on 16 July, creating a buzz about the high command’s next move in the state.
A second functionary at the CMO highlighted that both deputy CMs are now being seen in a single frame with Adityanath on social media. “On Yogi Adityanath’s Twitter (X) account, you would see several pictures of both deputy CMs with the chief minister,” he pointed out.
A BJP MLA said: “There has been a change in the CM’s body language after the Lok Sabha polls; now he is easily accessible. He listens to us more and also takes action when we complain about something. Earlier, 25 percent of our grievances were getting addressed but now it’s 80 percent. This has been a major change in the past few weeks.”
Also Read: Under siege from within, Yogi comes out in new avatar. Meeting with MLAs, MLCs to warning officials
Adityanath’s bypoll strategy
Adityanath is not only leading the campaign for the 20 November bypolls but is also involved in the ticket distribution, according to BJP functionaries.
In July, he held a meeting of his ministers to discuss the elections and formed a team of “Super 30”. Of these, two to three ministers have been made in-charges for each seat going for the bypoll. Cabinet and state ministers have been included in the team, the functionaries said.
They pointed out that it is for the first time that the CM has assigned duties to ministers before the organisation could do it.
“In the BJP, it is generally the organisation that decides the duties and allocates according to the need. This time, ministers were given the duty to visit constituencies and prepare reports on the bypolls. The organisation has also allocated duties to several BJP leaders to coordinate with the ministers. The CM ‘s pro-activeness shows how much is at stake,” a minister who was present at the July meeting told ThePrint.
One of the BJP functionaries also pointed out that meetings for the bypolls were taking place at the CM’s house and not at the BJP headquarters following complaints that party functionaries were rarely invited to the CM’s residence.
“Even during ticket distribution, Yogi was part of the discussions, though the final call has been taken by the BJP party high command,” he said.
According to the functionary, at the campaign meetings, Adityanath suggested allocating duties to senior leaders on the basis of caste dynamics on particular seats—for instance, the party should send more Dalit and non-Yadav OBC leaders for door-to-door campaigns.
The bypolls are crucial for the BJP in the wake of its dismal performance in the state that has 80 Lok Sabha seats up for grabs. The poor showing had led to an internal crisis in the party that highlighted the disconnect between the cadre and the government.
CM as troubleshooter
In July and August, Adityanath met over 200 current and former MLAs, MLCs and MPs of the BJP from different regions of Uttar Pradesh.
In meetings with the public representatives, in groups as well as individually, at his residence in Lucknow, he took feedback on reasons for the “difference in BJP’s performance” in their constituencies in 2024 and in the 2022 assembly polls. He also listened to their grievances about local officials.
After the meetings, several district collectors in regions where the BJP had fared badly, including those in Ayodhya, Azamgarh and Prayagraj, were transferred. A section of the party had blamed the poll losses on negligence of district-level officers.
According to sources in the BJP, the party’s internal review report of the Lok Sabha polls had Chaudhary as saying that the overreach of the bureaucracy, especially the police, had hurt the poll prospects. The report stated that the party did not pay heed to its workers and its leaders made ill-timed statements on issues such as amending the Constitution.
Adityanath also held a meeting in July with cabinet minister and NISHAD Party chief Sanjay Nishad, whose son Praveen lost from Sant Kabir Nagar as a candidate of the BJP.
Sanjay Nishad was among the leaders who had blamed the state government’s “style of functioning” for the loss of parliamentary seats. He even alleged that the “misuse of bulldozers” by officials was one of the reasons behind the poor performance.
However, after meeting the CM, Nishad appeared to have softened and stated to the media in September that only a few government officers had not been working while others had been making efforts to take UP forward and make it an “Uttam Pradesh”.
Adityanath also met Union Minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary, who discussed with him the issues of farmers of western UP, BJP sources said.
In another instance of the UP CM’s changed approach, during the assembly session in August, the Nazul Properties Bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly but put on hold in the Legislative Council and then sent to a select panel for recommendations.
According to government functionaries, the decision was taken “unanimously” after the CM spoke to his two deputies and Chaudhary, who is a member of the Legislative Council, too. After the Bill was cleared by the assembly, where Adityanath is the leader, it was put on hold by the Council, where too the BJP has majority and where Maurya is the leader.
While the move had led to talks of differences within the party and government, Adityanath is said to have taken a step back and listened to BJP MLAs and functionaries.
‘Bypolls a litmus test’
In his over seven-year tenure as the CM, Adityanath this year suffered his biggest setback, with one section of the BJP linking the Lok Sabha poll losses to a “tug of war” between the Delhi and Lucknow units, which resulted in a narrative of “sanghatan versus sarkar”.
Now, Adityanath has apparently been given full charge of the state by his party, and is clearing leading from the front to restore the BJP’s position among the public.
The bypolls on nine assembly segments are being considered a litmus test for Yogi as there is so much at stake. A major loss could shake his narrative for 2027 (state polls) and a landslide win would reinstate his position as the second-most charismatic leader after Modi,” S.K. Dwivedi, a UP-based political analyst and retired professor from University of Lucknow, told ThePrint.
“There is no doubt that he is still an undisputed leader in terms of ‘Hindutva politics’ but victories always add a feather in the cap. He has intensified efforts to win the bypolls by focusing on development projects and meeting BJP functionaries. He has also emphasised on the need for strong coordination between the government and the party,” Dwivedi explained.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: What is Uttar Pradesh’s Nazul Property Bill and why BJP lawmakers are opposing it
