As the Uttar Pradesh government’s top leaders, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, gathered in Ayodhya on October 19 to celebrate Deepotsav, the focus was not on festivities but the absence of Deputy CMs Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya. It sparked talk of a rift in the BJP and differences between the bureaucracy and BJP legislators.
“It is the first Deepotsav in nine years that Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak has missed. While no one is saying anything officially, the miscommunication has to be looked into. There was no mention of the Deputy CMs in the advertisement for the celebrations. Not just that, it was not clear which event they would attend and where they would sit, as per the protocol. Similar was the case with the Governor (Anandiben Patel), whose name was missing from the local invite. Responsibilities will have to be fixed,” said a senior BJP leader.
Other BJP insiders said both the Deputy CMs backed out at the last moment because there was no mention of their names in the advertisements and they were not provided with details of the event, including where they would sit.
While some blamed the Tourism Department, the nodal department for organising the event, others blamed the “Information Department”, saying the advertisements were their responsibility.
Sources said Maurya returned to the state late on October 19 because of his commitments in Bihar and had to return the following day, and that is why he skipped the event. “Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party president) is unnecessarily trying to make an issue out of it,” said the party leader close to the Deputy CM.
The BJP’s loss in UP in the Lok Sabha elections last year had led to speculation about differences in the party’s state unit. Soon afterwards, Adityanath took charge of the preparation of 10 Assembly bypolls even as Maurya repeatedly emphasised that the party was bigger than the government, seen as a veiled reference that the CM was ignoring party workers and running the state through the bureaucracy.
Several leaders in the state unit also took note of Maurya’s appointment as the party’s Bihar poll co-incharge in September, months after Union Home Minister Amit Shah referred to him as “mere mitr (my friend)”. At the time, a party leader said this elevation would give the Deputy CM a “bigger boost in UP polls as well as national politics”.
