UP minister quits ahead of polls, likely to join SP
LUCKNOW: Minister in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet, and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from the post on Monday, in what analysts expect might deal a severe blow to the party in the upcoming elections for the state assembly.
Maurya, a veteran leader from the other backward castes (OBC), is expected to join Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
Announcing his decision on Monday, Maurya said he was resiging from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet “due to the attitude of gross neglect” towards dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small traders.
On Twitter, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya urged the leader to reconsider his move.
“I don’t know for what reasons respected Swami Prasad Maurya has tendered his resignation. I appeal to him to sit down for a talk. Decisions taken in a hurry often prove wrong,” he said in Hindi.
In his resignation letter addressed to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Maurya said, “I discharged my responsibilities as the minister for labour, employment, and coordination in the council of ministers headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, despite adverse (’vipreet’) circumstances and ideology.”
“Due to the attitude of gross neglect towards dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small and mediumsized traders, I am resigning from the council of ministers of Yogi (Adityanath) of Uttar Pradesh,” he said in a tweet in Hindi and the letter, which he posted on the micro-blogging site
BJP Tindwari MLA Brajesh Prajapati and Tilhar MLA Roshan Lal Varma have also announced they are leaving the party in support of Maurya. There was no immediate word, however, on the resignations being accepted.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has shared a photo of him with Swami Prasad Maurya on Twitter, and welcomed him into the SP fold.
“Known for his fight for social justice and equality, Swami Prasad Maurya is welcome with greetings and honour, along with his workers and supporters. There will be a revolution on the social justice front. There will be a change in 2022,” the former chief minister said in a tweet.
Maurya, who hails from the other backward class (OBC) community, had crossed over to the BJP from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) before the 2017 assembly polls.
He is a five-time MLA from Padrauna, while his daughter Sanghmitra Maurya is a BJP MP and represents Badaun in the Lok Sabha.
The setback to the ruling party came on a day when a key BJP meeting to discuss the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, now just a month away, was taking place in Delhi.
Union home minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya attended the meeting, as the party begins shortlisting its candidates.
As many as 58 constituencies in 11 districts of the state will go to the polls on February 10.
The Uttar Pradesh polls will be held in seven phases -- on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7.
The results will be declared on March 10 along with the four other poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
Speaking to reporters here, Swami Prasad Maurya said, “I am a political person and I will be talking to some political party or the other. With whom I will talk, it will be done after consulting supporters.”
Swami Prasad Maurya’s departure from the BJP is likely to damage the party’s prospects in at least 20 seats spread across Kushinagar, Pratapgarh, Kanpur Dehat, Banda and Shahjahanpur.
Meanwhile, BJP Tilhar MLA Varma reached the Raj Bhavan here with the hard copy of Maurya’s resignation.
Speaking to PTI, Varma said, “I have resigned from the BJP, and I will be with Swami Prasad Maurya. When we used to raise the grievances of the people, we were not heard.” “We had complained to the chief minister and also to (the state BJP chief) Swatantra Dev Singh. But nothing happened. I will be joining the SP in the next couple of days,” he said BJP MLA from Tindwari Prajapati has also sent a letter regarding he leaving the party to the state party president.
“This must be a fall out of pressure tactics instead of ideological commitments. Maurya may be pressuring the BJP for distribution of tickets his way while the BJP may be having its own considerations. Leaders may not be satisfied over the distribution of tickets and so may leave their respective parties before polls,” said Professor SK Dwivedi, former head of department, political science, Lucknow University.