The Uttar Pradesh chief minister has suddenly become a matter of much speculation in the national media in India. There have been stories about supposed friction between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Whether or not the speculation is correct is not the point. That such speculation is out in the open is itself a rare event for the Bhartiya Janta party in the post-2014 Modi era.
Until a few days ago, we used to hear that Yogi Adityanath is being groomed to be Modi’s successor. Now, we suddenly hear the Prime Minister is unhappy with him for reasons of governance. What gives?