Keshav Prasad Maurya and Yogi Adityanath
After the Lok Sabha elections, everything is not going well in Uttar Pradesh BJP. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, who in the BJP working committee described it as an organization bigger than the government, has now entered the fray openly. After the Cabinet meeting, Keshav also kept his distance from the meeting held in Prayagraj regarding Kumbha and has now started questioning his government. Keshav Prasad Maurya has written to his own Yogi government asking to what extent reservation rules have been followed in recruitment through contract and outsourcing?
There have been many reports of a rift between CM Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, but for the first time in seven years, Keshav has come on the front foot and opened the front. On July 15, Keshav Maurya wrote to Devesh Chaturvedi, Additional Principal Secretary, Department of Appointments and Personnel (DOAP) regarding appointments made through contract and outsourcing in government departments. In which he said that during the briefing of questions of the Legislative Council, information was sought from the personnel department officials about the total number of officers and employees working on outsourcing and contract.
How much did the Yogi government recruit?
Keshav asked to what extent reservation rules were followed in contractual recruitment. He also mentioned the issue of appointment of 6800 reserved category candidates selected after reservation discrepancy in the recruitment of 69000 assistant teachers. He believes that this issue of reservation in teacher recruitment has been stuck for a long time, due to which the OBC category candidates are agitating. In such a situation it should be followed.
Since the formation of the BJP government in UP in 2017, 56 thousand 491 recruitments have been done through contract till now and 2 lakh 75 thousand 497 recruitments in government departments have been done through outsourcing till 2023. Apart from this, 1 lakh 7 thousand 936 employees have been recruited in various organizations through outsourcing. Keshav Prasad also wrote a letter to the Appointments and Personnel Department on August 16, 2023, objecting to non-compliance with reservation rules in contractual and outsourcing appointments. Now again he has asked for information about this.
Appointment and Personnel Department with Chief Minister
Keshav Prasad Maurya had said in the State Working Committee meeting on July 14, a day before writing the letter, that there is a bigger organization than the government. The very next day it was written on social media that the organization is bigger than the government. Not only this, Keshav Prasad Maurya is not even attending the cabinet meeting after the Lok Sabha elections. In this regard, Keshav Prasad did not attend the review meeting chaired by CM Yogi regarding Kumbh preparations, while Phulpur MP, Minister Nand Gopal Nandi and all Prayagraj MLAs participated.
CM Yogi Adityanath is responsible for the appointment and personnel department from which Keshav Prasad Maurya has sought information on the observance of reservation in recruitment. According to political analysts, Keshav Prasad Maurya has now openly opened the front, the way he has sought information, his political motive can also be understood that the appointment and personnel department is with the CM. In such a situation, neither any government order can be executed nor any information can be issued without their approval. Keshav Prasad Maurya has made a major political move by raising the issue of reservation for OBCs and Dalits in contractual recruitment, which is also being questioned by BJP’s allies.
Join the opposition voice on the reservation issue
Senior journalist Siddharth Kalhans says that Keshav Prasad Maurya hails from the OBC community and is the OBC face of the BJP. The way the OBC voters have dispersed in the Lok Sabha elections has increased the BJP’s challenge. So Keshav Maurya now wants to maintain his OBC identity by raising this issue, but his move will further increase the conflict. The Yogi government is already mired in the issue of reservation. The BJP has suffered losses in the Lok Sabha elections, which its allies have been reaping the benefits of. Now by writing a letter on this issue, Keshav Maurya has joined the opposition parties and brought his own government under severe attack from the opposition.
In 2017, the BJP returned to power in UP after 15 years, with Keshav Prasad Maurya at the helm of state president. In such a situation, Keshav Prasad was seeing himself as a CM candidate, but the top leadership handed over the reins of power to Yogi Adityanath and Keshav had to settle for the post of Deputy CM. After that there was a political struggle between the two leaders, but for the first time Keshav Prasad Maurya has openly opened the front. In such a situation it remains to be seen whether Keshav will retreat or will he be seen standing on the front foot like this?
