Following 2024 electoral setback, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now feeling the pressure from RSS chief Dr. Mohan Bhagwat, who has publicly called for consensus in taking decisions. Both Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Nitin Gadkari are in senior posts in the Cabinet because of the RSS’s insistence.
Gadkari reportedly vetoed the suggestion that he be put in charge of the Maharashtra Assembly elections. An RSS functionary is believed to have conveyed that if Chouhan was not inducted into the Cabinet, he should be appointed party president, a move unacceptable to the Modi camp.
At the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the body language between Gadkari and Chouhan, and the PM’s loyalist ministers seemed a trifle stiff and awkward.
Modi, who had concentrated the entire poll campaign around his name stating `Modi Guarantee, he is seen under pressure to change his attitude completely. Now, he is always referring to it as the ‘NDA government’. He asked his supporters and party leaders to remove the suffix ‘Modi ka Parivar’ from their social media handles.
It is also viewed as a response to Dr. Bhagwat’s call for team spirit and not individual self-aggrandisement. Moreover, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s two closed-door meetings with Dr Bhagwat in Gorakhpur raised eyebrows from the Modi and Amit Shah camp.
Yogi Adityanath, who arrived on Saturday in Gorakhpur where Dr. Bhagwat is taking part in a RSS camp, met the latter twice on Saturday, in the afternoon and evening. Both meetings lasted nearly 30 minutes,
Soon after poll results, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis came out with a move to resign from his position owing responsibility for the party’s debacle in Maharashtra. That was reportedly part of Amit Shah’s plot to force Yogi Adityanath to resign as Chief Minister following the party’s debacle in Uttar Pradesh.
However, when some Amit Shah supporters raised this issue with him, Yogi bluntly said if at all someone resigns because of the party’s debacle, the first one will be Modi himself. Due to that rude comment only, at the NDA MP’s meeting Modi was seen twice touching the shoulders of Yogi in order to pacify him.
Speculations are rife that Dr. Bhagwat’s Gorakhpur visit itself was aimed at analyzing the poll results. Bhagwat had reacted to the party’s poll performance in UP by schooling BJP leaders.
“A true sevak maintains dignity. He follows the decorum while working. He does not have the arrogance to say ‘I did this work’. Only that person can be called a true sevak,” he said. He also stressed the need for modesty and goodwill towards everyone, citing the principles of non-violence and truth.
