Keshav Prasad Maurya (left) and Yogi Adityanath.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: A seemingly innocuous remark by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya made during a routine inspection of the preparations for the forthcoming ‘Magh Mela’ (a significant annual Hindu pilgrimage at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers in Prayagraj during Jan-Feb) sent the tongues wagging within the BJP as it brought to the fore the fissures between him and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Interestingly at the centre of the remarks was Santosh Das, popularly known as ‘Satua Baba’, a seer, who is considered to be very close to Adityanath leading many to think that Maurya had in fact targeted the CM using the ‘Baba’.
Maurya, who reviewed the ‘Magh Mela’ preparations a couple of days back, expressed displeasure over the slow pace of the preparations and asked the Prayagraj district magistrate to pay attention to them rather than wasting time in preparing ‘chapatis’ for ‘Satua Baba’.
‘’Jyada Satua Baba ki roti ke chakkar mein mat pado…..vyawasthaon ko theek karo,’’ (Don’t waste time in making chapatis for Satua Baba…..look after the arrangements), Maurya told the district magistrate Manish Verma.
Maurya’s remarks came after a video showing Verma making ‘chapatis’ in the Ashram of ‘Satua Baba', went viral on social media.
Though Maurya’s remarks evoked laughter among those present there, the sarcasm was not lost on the political analysts, who sought to portray them as a signal that all was still not well between the two leaders.
Differences between Adityanath and Maurya had come to the fore soon after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in which the BJP suffered a serious setback in UP losing 29 seats to its rivals. Maurya had then sought to attribute the party’s dismal performance to the neglect of the party workers by Adityanath. It took a series of meetings of the two leaders with central leaders of the party to resolve the issue.