The political resolution in BJP’s National Executive, held on Sunday for the first time after January 2019, was moved by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, confirming the perception that the saffron clad leader is now among the top five-six leaders of the party in a hierarchy that starts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It is pertinent to mention that the January 2019 resolution, held just four months before the 2019 general elections, was moved by Nitin Gadkari, who was considered among the most powerful party leaders of the time.
In 2017 and 2018, the resolution was moved by Rajnath Singh, who is still considered as the tallest among the equals in the party. The 2016 resolution in Allahabad was moved by present Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, with Rajnath Singh moving the same in Delhi in the April 2015 meeting.
Incidentally, Yogi Adityanath was supposed to take part in the National Executive virtually, but the party decided to have him in Delhi hours before the meet started. Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls early next year and if the party is unable to retain the state, then it would severely dent the party’s chance for the May 2024 general elections as UP, the largest state of India, is considered as the bellwether of voters’ perception about political parties.
In the last Assembly elections, held in February-March 2017, the party won 312 seats. PM’s own seat, Varanasi is in Uttar Pradesh.
Party leaders who attended the meet said that apart from the PM, it was the UP CM who got the maximum response from the members, physically and virtually.
“There is no doubt that he is very popular among the party workers as well as the common man. Hence the response that he got was natural and nothing else should be read in the response or why he was chosen to move the resolution,” a party functionary said.
While responding to the media during the national executive, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Adityanath was chosen because he was a senior leader, the CM of the largest state in the country and handled the Covid-19 pandemic efficiently.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan attended the event virtually from Bhopal.
