Kejriwal Prediction Of UP CM Yogi's Exit After Polls Coming True? Here's What Is Happening In The State

Arvind Kejriwal had predicted that Yogi Adityanath would be removed as the UP CM within 2 months of the Lok Sabha poll results. Now, a rift between Yogi and his deputy KP Maurya has come to the fore.

During the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made two sensational claims. Addressing a press event with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Kejriwal said Amit Shah would be made the Prime Minister of India on September 17, 2025, the day PM Narendra Modi turns 75. His second claim was that Yogi Adityanath would be removed as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister within two months of the election results. Now, with barely over a month of the Lok Sabha results announcement, UP politics is on the boil, with an apparent rift in the ruling BJP.

Why Kejriwal Predicted Yogi Adityanath's Removal From CM's Chair

Arvind Kejriwal said that the BJP's rule is to remove anyone above the age of 75 from all party and government posts. Kejriwal claimed that this was a rule Narendra Modi had made himself. "When Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014, he made a rule that any person above the age of 75 will not find any place within the BJP or the government. They would be retired. The first to be retired under this rule were Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. Many, like Yashwant Sinha and Sumitra Mahajan, did not get tickets [because of this rule]. Others had to resign."

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Kejriwal said that under this rule, PM Modi wouldn't be able to retain his chair and, thus, was clearing the way for Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take his place. He said: "BJP leaders, like Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje, Raman Singh, Devendra Fadnavis, and ML Khattar, who could have posed a threat to Amit Shah, were removed from his way."

According to Kejriwal Yogi Adityanath was the last remaining threat to Amit Shah's candidature, and hence, PM Modi and Amit Shah were planning to remove him as well from Shah's way. "If they form the government, Yogi Adityanath will also be removed from the CM's post within two months," Kejriwal said.

What's Happening In Uttar Pradesh?

The ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh is going through a crisis with a widening rift between two of its tallest leaders — CM Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya. The rift came to the fore when KP Maurya at the BJP's one-day state working committee meeting said that the "organisation is bigger than the government". "No one is bigger than the organisation. Every worker is our pride," he said.

He further said: "I am a BJP worker first and deputy chief minister later. My door always remains open for everybody." KP Maurya's remarks were seen as an apparent dig at UP CM Yogi Adityanath, whose working style has been at the receiving end of many BJP leaders' ire, especially after the saffron party's poor performance in the state. 

Yogi Adityanath at the event said that the BJP won the elections in 2014, 2017 (assembly), 2019, and 2022 with a thumping majority and kept up the pressure on the Opposition. "There is no doubt that the voting percentage favouring the BJP in the 2024 elections was similar to that in the previous polls," Yogi Adityanath said.

He, however, said that the overconfidence of the party's members, along with the shifting of votes, had hurt the BJP in UP.

Cabinet, BJP State Unit Reshuffle Likely

The poor show in UP has hit the BJP hard, setting off speculations of a major rejig in the state unit as well as the Cabinet. According to several media reports, BJP UP president Bhupendra Chaudhary on Wednesday offered to resign over the poll performance. Earlier on Tuesday, KP Maurya met BJP president JP Nadda, which began the speculation of a major UP Cabinet reshuffle.

NDA partner Nishad Party's chief Sanjay Nishad also said that many bureaucrats support Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, which also contributed to the BJP's loss. He further indicated that another reason could be bulldozer action on the poor.

With 'Brand Yogi' being severely hurt in UP, it remains to be seen whether the imminent Cabinet reshuffle is limited to his ministers or if it singes Yogi Adityanath as well.

The development comes right before the UP bypolls for 10 seats — Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad). Nine of these seats fell vacant due to the resignation of MLAs who won the Lok Sabha elections.