The prestigious Ayodhya seat slipping from Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath could be a setback to his ambition of becoming the tallest Hindutva leader.
The party’s top brass, which is believed to have been left unimpressed by Adityanath’s hubris, may have aimed to clip his wings by sending him back to his home turf of Gorakhpur, from where he has been elected parliamentarian five times.
This is the first time that Adityanath will contest the assembly polls.
The denial of a ticket from Ayodhya could also hit Adityanath’s desire to become a pan-Uttar Pradesh leader. His bosses have now confined him within the boundaries of Gorakhpur.
Since the beginning of the election season, it was widely assumed that Adityanath would run from either Ayodhya or Mathura. The two-day visit of Sanjeev Singh, the chief minister’s emissary, to Ayodhya, intensified this speculation.
In the meantime, many argued that ignoring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aide A.K. Sharma when it came to the state cabinet would prove costly for Adityanath.
On multiple occasions, Modi’s message has been clear – Adityanath mattered very little. When Modi arrived at Varanasi to inaugurate the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s photograph was missing from the full page government advertisement in newspapers.
People were also stunned when, during the inauguration of the Purvanchal Expressway, Adityanath was left walking on the road behind Modi’s car while the…
