Mission 2027: Why Mohan Bhagwat’s back-to-back meetings with Yogi and Maurya have sent UP’s political buzz into overdrive

Before RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat left Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow Thursday, he sparked a political buzz after holding two separate meetings with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya. Sources in the RSS said Adityanath paid a courtesy visit to Bhagwat at Saraswati Sishu Mandir in the Nirala Nagar area of Lucknow Wednesday evening. They said that Bhagwat met Adityanath in a one-on-one meeting that lasted nearly 30 minutes. While no formal confirmation came from the RSS or the CM Office regarding the agenda of the meeting, an RSS functionary said, “It was a courtesy meeting only. So many ministers and leaders of the BJP had sought an appointment to meet Sarsanghchalak ji (Bhagwat). Such meetings take place during tours by Sarsanghchalak ji. Political decisions are not taken in such courtesy meetings. Only discussions happen there.” On the meeting’s agenda, a BJP leader said, “Discussions would have happened certainly on the social and political scenario of UP because only one year is left for Assembly elections in UP and both the state government and the BJP organisation are entering into election mode. Also, a reshuffle in the state Cabinet is expected.” Hours later, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya visited the same venue and met Bhagwat Thursday morning. That meeting, too, lasted nearly 30 minutes, and drew attention because it happened separately from the CM’s meeting with the RSS chief. These meetings come amid persistent reports of a rift between Maurya and Adityanath. Maurya is a long-time BJP loyalist, who found his way up the RSS ranks, including a stint in the VHP. When the party swept to power in UP after the 2017 Assembly post, he was considered the front-runner for the CM’s post, only to be pipped by Adityanath. Since then, though Maurya has remained a powerful figure in the state administration and BJP organisation, equations have shifted in favour of Adityanath. In the 2022 Assembly polls, Maurya suffered a shock defeat from his Sirathu seat, with his supporters blaming “internal sabotage” and further hardening ties between Maurya and Adityanath. The BJP’s decision to retain Maurya as Deputy CM despite his Assembly poll loss was seen as a bid by the party to buy peace. After the UP BJP’s debacle in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, as Adityanath faced heat for the defeat, Maurya said at a party working committee meeting that “the party was bigger than the government” – a veiled attack on the CM, suggesting that he was ignoring party workers and running the state through the bureaucracy. More recently, last October, as the UP government’s top leaders, including Adityanath, gathered in Ayodhya to celebrate Deepotsav, the absence of Maurya had sparked political buzz of a rift in the state BJP. While people close to Maurya said his busy schedule for the Bihar Assembly elections was behind his last-minute cancellation, party leaders blamed an administrative mix-up. Other BJP insiders said the Deputy CM backed out because there was no mention of his name in the advertisements and he was not provided details of the event, including where they would sit. Later on Thursday though, Bhagwat also separately met Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak, for what sources said was a “courtesy meet”. ### Brajesh Pathak’s Brahmin outreach Meanwhile, Maurya’s fellow Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak drew attention Thursday morning after he welcomed and honoured 101 “batuk Brahmins”, or young Sanskrit scholars of the Vedas, at his residence in Lucknow. With his family, Pathak applied tilak on the foreheads of the batuk Brahmins and showered flower petals. • 1Sharad Pawar pushed to corner as Sunetra tightens her grip on NCP, merger unravels • 2In Odisha churn, Patnaik, Congress join hands against BJP in RS polls, bat for a ‘common face’ • 3Congress stands isolated once more as other Opposition parties, from DMK to TMC to SP, back Kejriwal, admonish BJP • 460 lakh Bengal voters in balance: Tall order for deleted electors to return to rolls, say officials • 5Fate of 60 lakh Bengal voters in limbo; EROs, electors in dark on process, reasons why names were flagged “Batukaon ka samman, hamara saubhagya,” Pathak posted on social media, adding that they are the “flag-bearers of sanatan sanskriti”. A source said, “Usually, lots of people visit the deputy CM’s residence daily seeking redressal of their grievances. Today, batuk Brahmins, too, came, and the Deputy CM welcomed them all and felicitated them.” These developments occurred days after tensions flared between Swami Avimukteshwaranad Saraswati, the “Shankaracharya” of the Jyotirmath in Uttarakhand, and the BJP, as well as the Adityanath government. In January, Swami Saraswati had held an 11-day protest in Prayagraj over being allegedly prevented by the local administration from taking a holy dip in the Triveni Sangam on Mauni Amavasya. He also attacked the ruling BJP government for “disrespecting Sanatan Dharma”, prompting reconciliatory efforts by the BJP, including Deputy CM Maurya, even as the Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) came out in support of the Swami. With the 2027 Assembly polls drawing closer, the BJP, SP, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have been making efforts to draw support from various caste groups, especially Brahmins and Dalits. Recently, anger among upper-caste communities over the now-stayed University Grants Commission’s (UGC) caste discrimination rules had sparked protests across the state.