UP BJP President Poll Mystery: Is the RSS Backing Yogi for a Bigger Role?

Yogi is possibly the only heavyweight Chief Minister who is still holding on to his position even while the BJP has dispensed with regional satraps.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s image as the Hindutva poster boy has gained further boost with his pivoting completion of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, placing the temple town at the centre of his politics and governance.

The fact that Arun Kumar—the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s (RSS) main political link with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—is holding parleys with the UP Chief Minister underscores Yogi’s significance within the saffron ecosystem.

This visible bonding of the RSS’ top political emissary with Yogi comes at a time when the BJP is understood to be finally placing the task of finding a successor to JP Nadda, the incumbent party chief, on a priority. Equally significant is a surge in “Hindu sammelan” across UP with apparent blessings of both Yogi and the RSS. 

BJP Prez Poll Twist

While the RSS functionaries accompanied by BJP general secretary BL Santhosh held extensive deliberations in Lucknow, they also sat with Yogi for an extended session. The agenda was arriving at a consensus on the next UP BJP chief.

Party circles are abuzz with speculation that the RSS emissaries were attempting to bring Yogi on board with a name chosen by the BJP’s top brass. But political corridors in Lucknow are buzzing with another claim—that the election for the UP BJP chief is being “tagged” with the poll for the national BJP president.

Conducting the two elections within weeks of each other has added fuel to speculations about internal power dynamics. The old political cliché, "the road to Delhi goes through Lucknow", is being invoked again. What exactly links the national and UP polls?

That remains the question keeping BJP leaders guessing.

Will Yogi Lead the BJP in 2027?

Yogi is possibly the only heavyweight Chief Minister who is still holding on to his position even while the BJP has dispensed with regional satraps. Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan has faded out of the limelight. Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh has already passed on the baton to the new leadership. Shivraj Singh Chouhan left the Madhya Pradesh political turf to devote his administrative skills for the advancement of Indian agriculture. Manohar Lal Khattar also exited the Haryana scene to find a place in the Union Cabinet.

This sequence naturally shifts attention to Yogi’s position in Lucknow. If he leads the BJP into the 2027 UP Assembly elections and wins, his stature within the party will soar—and that will inevitably influence the BJP’s long-term succession planning, particularly the unspoken question: Who after Prime Minister Narendra Modi?

The window for scope for making a change in Lucknow is short. In 14 months, UP goes to polls. Removing Yogi now would carry two risks: a successor unfamiliar with the administration might fumble before polls, and “Brand Yogi”—central to UP’s saffron politics—would be diluted.

The RSS is now firmly back as a key stakeholder in BJP affairs. It’s understood that the RSS concurrence will be incumbent for any audacious decision by the BJP. The RSS-Yogi camaraderie, however, is not personal; the organisation is known to think two decades ahead when grooming leadership.

Much like in the case of Modi—who secured unequivocal RSS backing more than 15 years before he was projected as PM—Yogi is seen as a long-term investment. It is reliably learnt that the RSS is fully invested in him, giving the Chief Minister a formidable saffron shield.

Is Yogi Now Indispensable in UP?

The BJP’s setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections brought murmurs of dissent against Yogi within the party. But the poll drubbing has also been attributed to the strained relations of the BJP with the RSS ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Yogi, thus, has shrugged off any attempts from within the party to attach the poll drubbing of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to him.

While “no leader is indispensable” is a commonly repeated political axiom, in UP’s saffron politics, Brand Yogi remains the BJP’s biggest anchor. The counter-argument is that Brand Modi wins elections even where the BJP lacks strong state-level faces, as seen in Bihar.

Yogi, meanwhile, continues to be among the party’s most sought-after campaigners after Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Some argue he is now the second-most influential campaigner after Modi.

Amid the surge in “Hindu sammelan” in UP and the state government launching a drive to identify “ghuspaithiye (illegal infiltrators)”—a move aligned closely with RSS priorities—Yogi seems to have an unfinished saffron agenda in the state. The RSS-Yogi bonhomie has brought a new dimension to UP politics, as well as the internal dynamics in the BJP. 

The RSS also is wary that unlike Bihar, Uttar Pradesh politics is not just a challenge, but a high-stakes affairs because of saffron aspirations including the long-standing agendas of Mathura and Kashi. Unlike Bihar’s fractured Opposition, UP’s Akhilesh Yadav is a seasoned rival who now benefits from the diminishing influence of the Bahujan Samaj Party, consolidating non-BJP votes more effectively.

Thus, the RSS-Yogi bonhomie has a context, which in coming weeks and months will impact the internal power dynamics of the BJP.

(The author is a senior Delhi-based journalist with over two decades spent in reporting on Indian politics for several leading English dailies. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)