Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath greets artistes dressed as Lord Rama, Goddess Sita and Lord Lakshmana and other Hindu deities during a procession ahead of the ‘Deepotsav’ celebration, in Ayodhya.
Credit: UP CMO via PTI Photo
Lucknow: In a significant political development indicating that all is not well within the Yogi Adityanath government in the state, both UP deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak on Sunday skipped the much talked about 'deepotsav' (Diwali celebrations) in Ayodhya. They were reportedly upset over omission of their names from the government advertisement released for the occasion.
The advertisements, which appeared in the newspapers on Saturday, had pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath and the names of minister for agriculture Surya Pratap Shahi and minister for culture Jaiveer Singh. They did not feature any of the two deputy chief ministers.
Sources said that Shahi was the in-charge of the district while Jaiveer Singh was the minister of the department which had organised the event and hence, their names were mentioned in the advertisement.
Interestingly, Maurya, who was the additional in-charge of the Bihar assembly polls, had reached the state capital to take part in the 'deepotsav' event in Ayodhya, which created a record of sorts by lighting 26 lakh earthen lamps.
Sources said that the two deputies of Adityanath were upset at being "ignored" in the government programs, though some other ministers appeared in almost every government event.
While the state BJP leaders sought to make light of the absence of the two deputy CMs, the opposition Samajwadi Party and Congress saw what they termed "increasing resentment" among the ministers over "style of functioning" of the chief minister.
Earlier, differences between Maurya, an influential OBC leader, had cropped up during the BJP-sponsored events. On one occasion, Maurya sought to capitalise on the resentment of the party workers and openly declared that he would not hesitate in making "sacrifices" for their (workers') interest. Maurya's remarks came after some party MLAs voiced their resentment with the chief minister's style of functioning.
The matter had reached the BJP high command and the latter intervened to resolve it.
Meanwhile, while speaking at the 'deepotsav', Adityanath said that Ayodhya is attracting followers of the 'Sanatan Dharma' from across the world. He also highlighted the social welfare programs initiated by the state and the Union governments.