No birthday wishes for CM Yogi from PM Modi? Here's the truth

Is everything alright between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath? Speculations ran rife on Twitter, after a radio silence from the PM's social media handles on the occasion of his CM's birthday on Saturday, June 5.

PM Modi Didn't Extend Birthday Wishes to UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Twitter

Twitterati were abuzz at the fact that PM Modi, who doesn't miss out on extending congratulatory messages to not just leaders in India but his foreign counterparts, failed to tweet a customary birthday greeting to CM Yogi this year.

The "missing birthday wishes" added fuel to the rumours that there are tensions in the saffron party, months ahead of a high-stakes assembly election. There have also been reports that the BJP top brass in Delhi is struggling to quell dissent against the UP chief minister.

Rumour mills went into a tizzy earlier this week, when national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh held back-to-back meetings with ministers and party leaders in Lucknow to gather feedback on the Yogi government and assess the state unit's preparations for the 2022 assembly elections. He then met the CM behind closed doors.

The visit was significant, as it came in the wake of several BJP leaders and MLAs openly citing shortcomings in the state government's response to distress calls from Covid patients as second wave of the pandemic struck UP. The BJP is also a troubled house after the party's poor outing in the recently held panchayat elections, which were considered a semi-final ahead of the crucial assembly polls.

Sources in the government were quick to dismiss PM Modi's "no greeting to Yogi" as an indication of a rift in the BJP. They claimed that since the Covid-19 second surge in the country, the prime minister has stopped posting his customary birthday wishes to political leaders.

A senior minister in the government clarified, "The PM has not greeted any leader since the last week of April. It's a sad period for the nation. People have suffered. PM has greeted people on festivals but individual greetings to leaders have been stopped."

Looking through PM Modi's Twitter handle, one can see he did not wish Yogi on his birthday on June 5, just like he did not tweet greetings to Goa CM Pramod Sawant on April 24. Similarly, on May 3, there were no birthday messages posted for Jharkhand leader Arjun Munda and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot. The prime minister also didn't greet Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar on May 5, cabinet minister Thawar Chand Gehlot on May 18, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on May 24, and highway and transport minister Nitin Gadkari on May 27.

Sources in the government, however, stated that PM Modi did not miss out on sending best wishes to the leaders in their effort to tackle the second wave of Covid-19, with a promise of help from the Centre.

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