New rumours are circulating that the Central leaders are to ‘limit UP’s Yogi Adityanath to Purvanchal’ “cutting to size” the Chief Minister.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his visit to the national capital last week set people wondering about the government’s agenda and right now again, there is much speculation about “UP being bifurcated in 3-4 smaller states”, on the lines of BSP supremo Mayawati’s proposal as the CM.
In November 2011, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly had passed a proposal to split the state into four parts – Purvanchal (21 districts), Bundelkhand (7 districts), Awadh Pradesh (21 districts), and Paschim Pradesh (26 districts). Early Yogi Adityanath rejected any such plan to divide the state, saying that his government believes in “uniting and not dividing”, there are reports that a similar message was communicated to him by the leadership during his recent two-day visit to Delhi.
Initially, Mayawati Prabhu Das, former chief minister of UP has proposed the same and was rejected by most parties, including the BJP, as a “political gimmick”, the saffron party is said to be “always in favour of small states formed after following proper procedure, groundwork and discussions on economic and developmental issues” for their better management and progress.
The late Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal was also in favour of a ‘Harit Pradesh’ being formed in western UP, which is now the core of farm politics in the state.
There have been reports of “differences between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adityanath on various issues”. The bifurcation of the state is being seen as a way to “limit Adityanath to Purvanchal”, his main support region.
It is said that the central leadership is upset over the way the high-profile Chief Minister had been managing the BJP affairs in the state and the way he has been doing his public outreach “without giving due prominence to the PM”.
When the Prime Minister did not wish Yogi publicly on his birthday, with a relatively cool reception by senior leaders to his recent Delhi visit, things do not look very favourable for Yogi. Perhaps that echo around the Hindutva groups, if not Modi, Yogi, some looking to replace the Prime Minister with Yogi Adityanath has worked against the UP Chief Minister.
Purvanchal is a geographic sub-region of Uttar Pradesh that is within the larger Bhojpuri region. It comprises the eastern end of Uttar Pradesh. Purvanchal includes historically five Mahajanapadas, namely Anga, Kashi, Magadha, Malla, and Vajji.