Bypoll debacle upsets Adityanath’s applecart
Since the day Yogi Adityanath has administered the oath of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, on March 19, 2017, it had been a dream run till the recent by-poll shocker in his pocket seat of Gorakhpur.
The defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary constituencies took the wind off the sail of the Adityanath government, which had been gearing up for a grand celebration to mark its first year in office.
The defeat at the hands of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has deflated the exuberance of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime.
The UP Investors Summit 2018, held in Lucknow, had elevated the stature of Adityanath, who was over-confident of scoring win in the parliamentary by-polls. The event had seen the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and signing of deals worth nearly ~4.7 trillion.
Over the past year, the monk-turned-politician saw his political stock soar. Under his stewardship, the ruling BJP had successfully kept opposition parties on the brink. It had won 14 of 16 mayoral seats in the urban civic body polls a few months ago.
Adityanath had toured the state extensively and was the most sought BJP leader to hit the campaign trail in other states. He addressed seeral election rallies in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Tripura while also participating in party functions in Karnataka, Kerala and Chhattisgarh.
He fulfilled the BJP’s flagship pre-poll promise of a crop loan waiver of about ~360 billion, purported to benefit 8.6 million small and marginal farmers. However, around ~ 210 billion has been distributed among farmers till now.
Some other prominent steps taken by the government during the past year was the constitution of anti-Romeo squad, clamps on illegal slaughter houses, anti-land mafia drives, and a free hand to police in dealing with criminals.
Days after coming to power, the state government had sent a terse message to the bureaucracy on improvement of work culture. It had the required impact in the first few months but, gradually, it was back to square one as the CM got busy with election canvassing in other states.
Various inquiries were instituted by Adityanath over several infrastructure projects undertaken during the Akhilesh Yadav government. There were inquiries regarding alleged irregularities on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and Gomti Riverfront but those came to naught.
He faced the first major public challenge in August 2017, when several children died after oxygen supply was cut in BRD Medical College in his base Gorakhpur. While the government was caught off guard on the issue, some insensitive statements by the government spokesperson and ministers caused more embarrassment to the regime.
The state government further failed to launch any significant infrastructure project of its own, including the proposed Purvanchal Expressway. It was earlier projected to be launched by December 2017.
The promise of making state roads free of potholes again did not see the light of day and the estimated date of June 2017 kept getting extended repeatedly.
The failure of the government to connect with the rural populace even after the massive crop loan waiver and fathoming the potency of the SP-BSP alliance has exhibited its weakness to take charge in the big battle ahead in 2019, when Modi seeks re-election.
In the run up to the 2019 poll, the jury is still out on Yogi on whether he effects the necessary course correction, both politically and administratively.