Beginning mid-July, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath has had a great amount of praise heaped on him by his seniors in the Bharatiya ...
Beginning mid-July, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath has had a great amount of praise heaped on him by his seniors in the Bharatiya Janata Party.
First, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said the chief minister’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis was “unparalleled”. Days later, party president JP Nadda commended Adityanath for turning Uttar Pradesh into one of India’s “leading states”. Last week, it was the turn of Amit Shah: the Union home minister declared Uttar Pradesh under Adityanath was the “top” state in the country on the law and order front.
With just over half a year to go for Assembly elections in the state, the message is loud and clear – the saffron-clad monk will lead the BJP’s campaign as its chief ministerial candidate as the party seeks to get re-elected.
A thorny few months
Given Adityanath is the incumbent chief minister, one may argue that this was only inevitable and natural. However, it was far from a foregone conclusion as recently as the beginning of July.
For Adityanath, the months of April, May and June were beset by turbulence on several fronts. There was dissent within the ranks of the state BJP over his inept handling of the second wave of the pandemic; candidates backed by the party in the panchayat elections...
