CM Yogi posts photos with PM, sends out message to electorate

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 21

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday sparked off fresh speculation about his future role in the BJP, posting intimate tell-all frames with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two engaged in an intense conversation on the eve of state elections early next year.

We’ve resolved to build a new India

We have embarked on a pledge, dedicating our mind and body, with a resolve to herald a new dawn, reach beyond the skies and build a new India. — Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh CM

“We have embarked on a pledge, dedicating our mind and body, with a resolve to herald a new dawn, reach beyond the skies and build a new India,” Yogi (49) captioned the two Twitter frames that show the PM, in a counselling gesture, putting hand on the UP CM’s shoulder.

Deeply depictive of Yogi’s prominence in the BJP, the frame appeared intended not only as a signal to saffron rank and file about new winds blowing in the BJP, but also as a message the electorate of UP, a state key to BJP’s third term run at the Centre in the 2024 General Election.

The CM’s tweets promising the rise of new India also carry loaded messages about his own future, raising questions about whether the PM had begun the search for a successor.

At 71, Modi has no challenge in the BJP, but with advancing age, he bears the burden of ensuring seamless power transition in the party once he decides to exit the active scene.

Although BJP insiders said it was too early in the day for PM’s succession plan discussions with Home Minister Amit Shah already in tow, they privately acknowledged the rise of Yogi in the party.

The recent BJP national executive meeting bore testimony to the fact that Yogi had trumped compatriot BJP CMs to the top having been the only one to be invited to attend the meeting physically. Besides, Yogi was then handpicked to propose the BJP’s political resolution, something Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had done over the previous two years.

Defending the choice of Yogi as proposer of the resolution, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had clearly said, “Yogi is the CM of India’s biggest state. Why should we not invite him to propose the resolution?”

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