After Bihar win, buzz grows over Keshav Maurya's elevation

Post the Bihar results, speculation is rife within the BJP over a possible elevation for Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. His differences with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are well known, often surfacing through Maurya's public remarks. Yet the recent responsibilities entrusted to him by the party suggest that Maurya may be headed for a larger role in national politics.

In September, Maurya was made the party's co-incharge for the Bihar elections alongside Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He was also among the BJP's star campaigners, given the significance of Kushwaha votes in the state. In October, he led an Indian delegation of Buddhist monks carrying sacred relics of Lord Buddha to Kalmykia in Russia for an exhibition organised by the Union Culture Ministry.

Following the NDA's victory in Bihar, Maurya was again tapped by the party-this time as an observer for the BJP legislature party meeting in Patna. His co-observers were Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and former Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. Sources within the BJP told ET that the prominence Maurya has been receiving in recent months is widely seen as a sign of his likely elevation in central politics.