Delhi/Lucknow: A new mantra of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya sounds: organization is bigger than the government (The organization/party is bigger than the government). Or, perhaps, it is a veiled message for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
this sunday, a introduction meeting (Preliminary meeting) In honor of Dharampal Singh, newly appointed State BJP General Secretary (Organisation), Maurya conveyed a message to a gathering of 38 MPs and MLAs from Braj and Western UP region: “The organization is bigger than the government. Whatever people go to the government, the organization sends them.” (The organization i.e. BJP is bigger than the government. Those who go to the government are sent by the organization.)
that same day too tweeted same line: organization is bigger than the government, And he reinvigorated this message at a meeting of MPs and MLAs of Awadh region in Lucknow on Tuesday.
To some extent the secret line has invited intense speculation in the corridors of power in Lucknow.
Some party leaders point out that the current UP BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh has completed his term, And now Maurya (who was the state head before the 2017 elections) is the contender for the post.
Party sources claim that he has met top BJP leaders in Delhi in this regard. Earlier this month, Maurya had replaced Singh as the leader of the Legislative Council.
Moreover, Maurya’s message is also being interpreted as a jibe at Yogi Adityanath when it is rumored that the BJP high command wants cut CM to size,
Speaking to ThePrint, a minister in the Yogi cabinet said: “Do you think Maurya can give such cryptic messages without the will of the party high command? This means that the high command seeks greater balance of power in the state, and it should not be concentrated in the hands of only one person. Swatantra Dev Singh shares a good equation with the chief minister… replacing him with Maurya may restore some balance in the power dynamics in the state.”
A senior party leader said that ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it is especially important to have a “check and balance” in place. maurya is a trustworthy person [Union home minister] Amit Shah. Right now the party’s top priority is to win at least 60 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP. Any kind of negligence can put the party’s prospects in jeopardy in the country.
In this context, some party insiders say, Maurya, an influential OBC leader, is attempting to fashion himself as an alternative to Yogi, who hails from the Thakur community in UP.
Last week itself, at a function in which Yogi also attended, he credited BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal for the party’s 2017 victory in UP.
He didn’t say words, but here too, his message seemed to be that the organization is bigger than its individual leaders.
In 2017, Maurya was the state party president and Bansal was the general secretary (organisation) in Uttar Pradesh. Like Maurya, Bansal is also close to Shah and reportedly had strained relations with Yogi during his tenure in UP.
On the record, however, BJP leaders deny that there is any factional politics at play.
When asked about the rift between the CM and his deputy, former state BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Laxmikant Bajpai said that not much should be read in Maurya’s remarks.
Maurya is the main leader of the party. He was only insisting to the cadre that we are here only because of them and being in power we should not forget the organization. There is no power struggle. We are all working to achieve the party’s target of winning more than 75 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
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‘The face of OBC’
Keshav Prasad Maurya lost the 2022 UP assembly election from his constituency Sirathu, but was still installed as one of the two deputy CMs of the state (the other being Brajesh Pathak). Since UP has a bicameral legislature, he was included as an MLC in June.
According to party sources, this is because of his stature as the “OBC face” of the BJP in UP, especially at a time when the party is prioritizing these communities in its caste arithmetic.
“Only four months back, Keshav Maurya was inducted as the Deputy Chief Minister in the state government. What has happened in four months that the BJP high command is now thinking of making him the state party president? Despite losing the election, he was included so that he could balance the representation of caste in the Council of Ministers. Amit ShahYes He has been developed as the face of OBCs in the state,” said another senior leader. “In four months, the BJP high command did not find anyone else a suitable alternative to lead the organisation.”
The minister quoted earlier said that Maurya had received the blessings of the high command for good reasons, and deserved to be promoted to the party.
“Not only is he the face of OBCs, he has strong Hindutva credentials and played a key role in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He is also an accessible politician. His future is bright – if not as an alternative to Yogi, then for a bigger role in the future,” the minister said.
A second minister in the Yogi cabinet, however, speculated that Maurya was in a good position to present himself as an “alternative” to Yogi Adityanath.
Maurya proved his mettle in 2017 when, under his presidency, the BJP won over 300 seats in UP – a historic mandate. If the high command asks him (in UP) to lead the organization again, it will show his confidence in his abilities,” the minister said.
He said that Maurya also had a chance to gain widespread popularity as an OBC leader, as did the late former chief minister Kalyan Singh in the 90s.
“When Kalyan Singh can become a Hindu” heart emperor With the help of the (King of Hindu Hearts) Lodh community, who have around 3 per cent votes, Deputy CM Maurya and Saini can take advantage of the votes, which are 6 per cent. He can establish himself as one of the most prominent OBC leaders not only in UP but also at the national level.
Yogi Vs Maurya
Significantly, after the victory of the BJP in the 2017 assembly elections, Maurya was the chief ministerial candidate.
Then, parallels drawn About his similarity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, like belonging to the OBC community and running a tea stall when he was young.
However, if Maurya was hoping to be ‘rewarded’ with the post of chief minister after the election, he was disappointed and had to settle for a post.
In the political circles of UP, it is often whispered that Maurya is annoyed with Yogi being in the limelight as he believes he worked hard for the party before the 2017 elections as its state president .
There have been many signs of tension between the two leaders. For example, when Maurya headed the Public Works Department (PWD) in the first Yogi government, the chief minister was known to hold meetings with his officials and reprimand them for their lack of work. Maurya did not attend most of the meetings held by the CM.
Maurya again in 2019 wrote a letter Adityanath alleged rampant corruption in the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), which deals with land allocation and housing schemes. This was seen as a direct challenge as the LDA is headed by the Chief Minister. It is also reported that Yogi had decided to appoint him to the post of Managing Director in his department, only take back Maurya had complained about this to the BJP high command. It is also rumored that various cases It was closed against Maurya on the instructions of Delhi as he argued that the same had been done for Yogi.
In June 2021, a comment by Maurya himself fueled speculation that all was not well between the two power centers in UP.
maurya hadi told the media That only the BJP parliamentary board and the national leadership can decide under whom the 2022 assembly elections will be fought. “It doesn’t matter under whose leadership the election is being fought. BJP is the largest party in the world. It is not a private limited company,” he had said.
Maurya had brushed off questions about the rift with Yogi, but many read between the lines.
Later that month, BJP insiders say, Yogi was prompted by top RSS and BJP leaders to mend fences with a disgruntled deputy. CM for the first time in his tenure then Maurya’s vision Home to congratulate the newly wed son of the latter. Yogi had left the marriage.
Why Maurya is important to BJP
During his tenure as BJP general secretary in 2013, Amit Shah was instrumental in stitching together a rainbow coalition of castes in UP – a social engineering effort that included the support of non-Yadav and non-Jatav Dalit communities.
RSS’s Maurya, who won the assembly elections for the first time in 2012, came to Shah’s notice around this time. He was then given a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Phulpur in 2014, where he won.
Later, Shah made him state president of the BJP, a position in which he excelled on all accounts, working with Sunil Bansal to steer a major victory for the party in the 2017 assembly election.
Maurya’s relevance again by 2024 is largely linked to his caste.
The share of OBCs in the population of UP is more than 40 percent. while about 58% Non Yadav OBC The BJP is believed to have been voted out in 2017, the share is projected to go up to around 65 per cent in 2022, despite OBC leaders such as Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chouhan and Dharam Singh Saini switching to the Samajwadi Party. Election
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal had won a total of 64 seats. Allegedly Winning around 65 per cent of the OBC votes.
However, the BJP is not satisfied. The Samajwadi Party’s alliance with smaller parties from non-Yadav OBC groups in the 2022 assembly elections led to the loss of several BJP seats in eastern UP, leaving the party highly prepared for the need to retain its vote-bank.
The Mauryas, at 6 per cent of the population, represent the largest voting segment in the state after Yadavs (9 per cent) and Kurmis (7 per cent). In addition, the Maurya community is influential in more than 100 assembly constituencies in the state, which means it is electorally expedient to have a prominent leader to represent it.
(Edited by Asawari Singh)
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