Popular, but not within party?

The voting for Delhi’s civic polls took place on Sunday. The counting of votes is on Wednesday. During the campaigning, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates hoped that the party’s newest sensation, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, would campaign for them. Other BJP chief ministers were also scheduled to hold some of the rallies. Adityanath was scheduled to address public rallies and road shows on April 19 and 20. Several Union ministers and key BJP leaders have addressed public rallies. However, Adityanath’s programmes were cancelled, and later those of other chief ministers as well. The programmes were cancelled ostensibly because of the new chief minister’s preoccupations in his home state. However, there were murmurs in the BJP that Adityanath was becoming popular not just in Uttar Pradesh but also Delhi and not everyone within the BJP was comfortable with his increasing popularity.