BJP’s balancing act in UP: Why the party gave a leg-up to two heavy hitters from Adityanath’s turf

When Agrawal’s appointment was announced on July 29, BJP leaders and workers from the Gorakhpur unit rushed to his home to greet him with flower bouquets and garlands. The following day, party workers felicitated him in the Nanda Nagar area where they had assembled to listen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Mann ki Baat” programme.

“BJP leaders and workers in Gorakhpur gave him such a felicitation for the first time. With Agrawal now a party national general secretary, BJP workers in eastern UP have got a voice in the top leadership,” said a local party leader.

When Agrawal visited the BJP headquarters in Delhi for the first time after his appointment, several party workers from UP were waiting there to meet him. “Party workers similarly make a beeline to meet Shukla too when he tours Gorakhpur. Party workers of Gorakhpur region also go to Himachal Pradesh to meet him,” said a local leader.

The history that the three BJP leaders share is interesting. In the 2002 Assembly elections, the BJP was a divided force in the state. Shukla, by then already a four-term MLA from Gorakhpur Urban, was the party’s official candidate and lost to Agrawal who was a candidate of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) and had the backing of local MP Adityanath. Agrawal was the only one of the ABHM’s 15 candidates to win the election. He subsequently joined the BJP and won the following three elections in 2007, 2012, and 2017.

Having been a prominent face of the BJP in the UP Assembly for several years, he expected a berth in the state Cabinet or the Assembly Speaker’s position. He did not get either and criticised the district administration and state police in public. In May 2017, the MLA alleged that the police in Gorakhpur City were allowing liquor shops to operate in residential areas in violation of rules and announced a protest. Agrawal had a heated argument with then Circle Officer Charu Nigam, an IPS officer, and purportedly left her teary-eyed. Later, the MLA claimed that he did not misbehave with Nigam and alleged that she had allegedly hit women protesters with batons. Agrawal was called to Lucknow and he met Adityanath to explain his side of the story.

In August 2020, the BJP issued a show-cause notice to Agrawal when he wrote on social media that the UP Police was “losing its effectiveness” and suggested that senior officers, including the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) and the Director General of Police, should be replaced to improve the image of the force. His post was in response to a case of murder and alleged rape in Bhadohi. The BJP in its notice to the MLA claimed that his social media posts were hampering the image of the party and the government and the posts amount to indiscipline. However, the party closed the matter following his response.

The BJP dropped Agrawal from Gorakhpur Urban in the 2002 elections and gave the safe seat to Adityanath. Though, according to party insiders, Agrawal was left sulking by the party leadership’s decision he did not make any noise and was present at the collectorate when the CM filed his nomination papers. A few months later, the BJP nominated Agrawal to the Rajya Sabha and appointed him party co-in-charge of its Kerala unit and the leader in charge of the Lakshadweep unit.

Meanwhile, Shukla laid low and worked for the organisation, biding his time for over a decade since his loss to Agrawal. He was appointed state BJP vice president in 2012 and was awarded a Rajya Sabha seat four years later. In 2017, he was appointed Union Minister of State for Finance but did not find space in the Union Cabinet after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Shukla once again emerged as the BJP’s Brahmin face in UP when the party set up a four-member committee under his leadership in December 2021 to reach out to the Brahmin community ahead of the state elections. The efforts paid off when he received the governorship.