Lucknow: Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently resigned from the BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party, on Wednesday said he was confident of his victory from his new assembly seat, Fazilnagar in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Maurya was earlier slated to contest from Padrauna, where he had won the last time.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Maurya said that his probable opponent RPN Singh, another defector who left Congress for BJP, was "not a worthy opponent". "There is no question of fear when BJP has not even presented its candidate (in the constituency). And the person you're naming (RPN) is inconsequential. He's a king, and lives in his palace. He hardly goes out to the masses, and the masses are also not allowed inside his residence. I belong to the ground. If you want to fire back at SP Maurya, you need great caliber," the Samajwadi Party leader responded.
The BJP, in recent days, has accused Maurya of changing his seat because he feared defeat at the hands of RPN. Asked about his electoral chances in the Fazilnagar constituency, Maurya said it was up to the voters, but at the same time, he believed they would embrace him. "I have been made a candidate, and I shall go there as a candidate. But I have full faith that the people will receive me just the way they received me in Padrauna and elected me as an MLA three times consecutively", he noted.
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He said that SP's candidature of Pallavi Patel against UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya was a response for SP Baghel standing against former UP CM and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav. "They have fielded SP Baghel against Akhilesh Yadav, so we have made Pallavi Patel a candidate against KP Maurya. We have all the tricks to go up against BJP," Maurya stated.
