Yogi’s fate uncertain as Centre delays call on ‘peacemaker’ Anandiben’s term

Although the ongoing turmoil in Uttar Pradesh politics has clouded the fate of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, there is no talk about the appointment of the next governor. It is so despite the fact that the term of current Governor, Anandiben Patel, ends in a few days’ time from now. And given the political uncertainty dogging the crucial state, silence over the next incumbent of Lucknow’s Raj Bhavan is making things even more uncertain.

75-year Rubicon

Patel was appointed to the high office on July 29, 2019 for a five-year term. This is billed to conclude on July 28. But there are no signs so far from the Centre, either about finding her replacement or granting her another term. She is 82-years-old, and in case her term is to be renewed, the governor will be in office until the age of 87.

This too is beyond the 75-year Rubicon set by the BJP government as a policy regarding maximum age limit of its appointees to high offices. However, in case of gubernatorial positions, this has not been followed too strictly as Najma Heptulla retired as Manipur’s governor in 2021 at the age of 81.

Modi’s trusted lieutenant

As far as Patel is concerned, she, while stepping down from the post of Gujarat chief minister in 2016, had said that she was getting old and the new generation should get a chance. She had succeeded Narendra Modi as Gujarat’s chief minister in 2014 when the former became prime minister.

After her retirement from active or electoral politics, Anandiben has also been governor of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. She is so much trusted by Modi that he not only made her step into his shoes in Gujarat as chief minister, but also eventually posted her as governor of volatile Uttar Pradesh whose vast swathes also include his constituency – Varanasi.

As Yogi’s ‘saviour’

A governor, in any case, is thought to serve as the eyes and ears of the central government in a state. But with respect to Anandiben, this has been more so. Last week Chief Minister Adityanath called on her amid the heat generated by some of his party peers following the reverses faced by the BJP in Lok Sabha polls. Those familiar with Uttar Pradesh politics say that Yogi trusts Patel to take his word directly to Modi.

This is so since Patel in the past had reportedly had a few run-ins with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. So much so that sleuths of central agencies had raided a few premises in Gujarat which were connected with Patel’s close relatives. Similarly, Yogi is also not very comfortable with Shah and this is said to have paved a common ground for close understanding between the Uttar Pradesh chief minister and the governor.

Patel had also helped Yogi when about 100 BJP MLAs turned against him. In December 2020 these MLAs sat in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly to demand a top-level change. MLAs were restive over Yogi’s ways of giving bureaucrats more power than the elected representatives. Some of them also approached the governor and Yogi was summoned to Delhi though nothing happened. The crisis was soon deflated.

All eyes on Centre

Thus, in the present governor of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi is thought to have a saviour of sorts; and the delay on the Centre’s part in deciding about the next course regarding Anandiben is becoming a matter of concern in the state’s political quarters. More so, since these are also times of pro-active governors who are often tasked to get the Centre’s writ through in their states.

Uttar Pradesh is no exception to this. But with Anandiben’s time now fast tapering off in the Raj Bhavan, all eyes are on Delhi to find what is in store for her as also which way the issues that have of late been coming to her could go through the days to come.