Lucknow (UP): In a big jolt to the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government, five BJP leaders have left the party today. BJP leader and state labour minister Swami Prasad Maurya was the first to resign, and he is likely to join the opposition Samajwadi Party. Hours later, four more MLAs, Roshan Lal Verma, Brijesh Prajapati, Vinay Shakya and Bhagwati Sagar also resigned from Banda's Tindwari seat.
"Despite differences in ideologies, I have dedicatedly served the Yogi Adityanath cabinet so far. However, I hereby resign as the Minister of labour, employment and coordination in the Yogi Adityanath led UP cabinet, due to the party's negligent attitude towards Dalits, backward classes, farmers, unemployed youth, small and medium businessmen," the minister stated in his resignation letter addressed to Governor Anandiben Patel.
While talking to ETV Bharat, Maurya said that he has made this decision after a thorough thought into the matter. "Decisions like these are taken after a well-informed and long thought. I will also make all the further decisions after a thorough consultation with my close allies over the next two days. The media will be informed about my final decision in a couple of days," he said.
The predictions of several other BJP MLAs including ministers Dara Singh Chauhan, Dharam Singh Saini and Nand Gopal Gupta joining the Samajwadi Party are quite rife in the UP political circle after these resignations.
According to the information received, the BJP high command is trying to convince the MLAs who have resigned. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reportedly assigned Swatantra Dev and Sunil Bansal the responsibility of persuading these leaders. UP Deputy CM Keshav Maurya had also reached out to these leaders initially when they declared their resignations. However, Maurya has reportedly straightaway refused to accept any of the party's requests. He had interestingly clarified his differences with the party authorities around a year ago also.
Meanwhile, a tweet from the official Twitter handle of the Samajwadi Party declared that more than 12 leaders from the Bahujan Samajwadi Party in the Gonda Constituency of UP have also decided to join the Samajwadi Party. The tweet, attributed to the SP Chief Spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhary, named a few leaders including Pankaj Tiwari, Satyam Mishra, Govind Mishra, Shri Anil Kumar Mishra, along with Sarvshree Rana Pratap Singh, Vijay Singh, Dayaram Singh and Virendra Pratap from the Mirzapur district.
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समाजवादी पार्टी के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष एवं पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री श्री अखिलेश यादव के प्रति आस्था जताते हुए आज गोण्डा के बसपा के दर्जन भर से ज्यादा नेताओं ने समाजवादी पार्टी की सदस्यता ग्रहण की। आज करनैलगंज गोण्डा में बसपा के प्रभारी रहे श्री अनिल…https://t.co/UAI6iTHHfr
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) January 11, 2022 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">समाजवादी पार्टी के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष एवं पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री श्री अखिलेश यादव के प्रति आस्था जताते हुए आज गोण्डा के बसपा के दर्जन भर से ज्यादा नेताओं ने समाजवादी पार्टी की सदस्यता ग्रहण की। आज करनैलगंज गोण्डा में बसपा के प्रभारी रहे श्री अनिल…https://t.co/UAI6iTHHfr
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) January 11, 2022समाजवादी पार्टी के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष एवं पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री श्री अखिलेश यादव के प्रति आस्था जताते हुए आज गोण्डा के बसपा के दर्जन भर से ज्यादा नेताओं ने समाजवादी पार्टी की सदस्यता ग्रहण की। आज करनैलगंज गोण्डा में बसपा के प्रभारी रहे श्री अनिल…https://t.co/UAI6iTHHfr
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) January 11, 2022
On the other hand, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav took to Twitter to express his joy over Maurya joining his party, wherein he welcomed the former labour minister. "Samajwadi party welcomes Shri Swami Prasad Maurya who always stood for equality and rights of the underprivileged," the tweet said.
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सामाजिक न्याय और समता-समानता की लड़ाई लड़ने वाले लोकप्रिय नेता श्री स्वामी प्रसाद मौर्या जी एवं उनके साथ आने वाले अन्य सभी नेताओं, कार्यकर्ताओं और समर्थकों का सपा में ससम्मान हार्दिक स्वागत एवं अभिनंदन!
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) January 11, 2022 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
सामाजिक न्याय का इंक़लाब होगा ~ बाइस में बदलाव होगा#बाइसमेंबाइसिकल pic.twitter.com/BPvSK3GEDQ
">सामाजिक न्याय और समता-समानता की लड़ाई लड़ने वाले लोकप्रिय नेता श्री स्वामी प्रसाद मौर्या जी एवं उनके साथ आने वाले अन्य सभी नेताओं, कार्यकर्ताओं और समर्थकों का सपा में ससम्मान हार्दिक स्वागत एवं अभिनंदन!
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) January 11, 2022
सामाजिक न्याय का इंक़लाब होगा ~ बाइस में बदलाव होगा#बाइसमेंबाइसिकल pic.twitter.com/BPvSK3GEDQसामाजिक न्याय और समता-समानता की लड़ाई लड़ने वाले लोकप्रिय नेता श्री स्वामी प्रसाद मौर्या जी एवं उनके साथ आने वाले अन्य सभी नेताओं, कार्यकर्ताओं और समर्थकों का सपा में ससम्मान हार्दिक स्वागत एवं अभिनंदन!
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) January 11, 2022
सामाजिक न्याय का इंक़लाब होगा ~ बाइस में बदलाव होगा#बाइसमेंबाइसिकल pic.twitter.com/BPvSK3GEDQ
Swami Prasad Maurya was a BJP MLA from the Padrauna area in eastern Uttar Pradesh, while his daughter Sanghamitra is also BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh. Maurya had joined BJP in 2016 after he left the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He has an OBC background and has served as an MLA 5 times in his political career so far. He has also served as the state president for the UP BSP as well as the leader of opposition in the UP Legislative Assembly from 2012 to 2016.
Amid this political upheaval, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar said that talks are on with like-minded parties to jointly oust BJP from power in next month's Assembly elections in the coastal state. NCP leader Praful Patel and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut are talking with local Congress leaders there, Pawar told the reporters.
All these developments have come in the midst of a political hullaballoo in the state weeks before the seven-phase Assembly elections begin on February 10 and can prove to be a downfall factor for the BJP.
Also read: 6 Samajwadi Party corporators join Congress in Uttar Pradesh
