Yogi Adityanath wants to be UP CM, not Cabinet minister

Yogi Adityanath - the firebrand BJP MP from Gorakhpur - wants to go all out this poll season and become the saffron party's face for the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Sources tell me that Adityanath even turned down an offer to be minister of state with independent charge at the Cabinet reshuffle held today, which would have pushed him out of the reckoning.

Adityanath told BJP president Amit Shah he was simply not interested in joining the Centre. He has only UP on his mind.

In an otherwise lacklustre Cabinet expansion, which has seen the Modi council bloat to nearly 80 ministers, Adityanath's unabashed defiance is significant.

It is also telling how Modi and Shah do not want to bet on controversial faces and are fearful of a repeat of the Kiran Bedi fiasco of the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.

Sources say Modi had shown interest in projecting Union human resource and development minister Smriti Irani as the BJP's chief-ministerial candidate for the Uttar Pradesh polls. But RSS vetoed it.

Adityanath's snubbing of Modi-Shah's Cabinet offer lends a glimpse into BJP's troubles that have increased manifold.

Interestingly, I have been told, because Adityanath refused to restrain other motormouths - the assorted sadhus and sadhvis from UP - they too could not be inducted as ministers.

The reshuffle has also spelled the end of Subramanian Swamy's Cabinet dreams. According to insiders, Modi has told Swamy that he is an asset and an ideal choice, but the fact that he's 76 makes his induction "impossible".

While the portfolios are yet to be announced, Sushma Swaraj has ensured that her loyalist SS Ahluwalia gets a berth, say sources.

Prakash Javedkar's elevation to the full Cabinet rank is the result, reportedly, of lobbying by two billionaire industrialists who were issued environmental clearances at lightning speed.

In fact, BSP supremo Mayawati reacted critically to Dalit leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athawale's elevation as a minister of state. At a recent press conference, she said, "In its two years of rule, the BJP government has only worked for and in favour of big corporates. On the other hand, it has totally disregarded public welfare and public interest through its neglect of the poor, the backward, Dalits, workers, farmers, Muslims and other religious minorities."

Furthermore, the induction of Mirzapur MP Anupriya Patel as a Cabinet minister - a move made keeping in mind the Kurmis votes of Eastern UP - has left analysts unenthused.

Clearly, Modi, with his new jumbo Cabinet, can no longer claim to run a government with the famous "minimum government, maximum governance" mantra.