BJP in damage-control mode after Swami Prasad Maurya’s exit

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[google-translator]

LUCKNOW Taken aback by the sudden exit of state labour minister Swami Prasad Maurya, a grassroots level OBC leader, and the subsequent resignation of a few other party lawmakers, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in UP quickly put in place a dual strategy aimed at checking further exodus while getting some key opposition leaders to join the party.

With three other BJP lawmakers quitting and at least a dozen others said to be among those who could resign anytime, the BJP high command promptly directed the party’s OBC state BJP chief Swatantra Dev and state general secretary (organization) Sunil Bansal to talk to and placate all disgruntled leaders.

The BJP’s counter strategy involves getting some important leaders from the main opposition Samajwadi Party (that Swami Prasad has gone to) to join the BJP. In this connection, names of some Brahmin leaders of the Samajwadi Party were in circulation, who, some BJP leaders indicated, could join the party around Makar Sankranti (January 14) regarded by Hindus as auspicious.

Even as some UP ministers and BJP leaders began targeting Swami Prasad, the ruling party people admitted that the labour minister’s exit was a “big loss” before the state goes to polls from February 10.

The development took place when a high-level BJP meeting in Delhi to finalise candidates for the 58 seats in western UP (that go to polls in the first phase) was underway. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma were participating in it.

The immediate fall out of Swami Prasad’s exit became apparent as some BJP lawmakers openly announced their resignation after describing themselves as Maurya loyalists.

“Yes, I am going too,” said Roshan Lal Verma, BJP lawmaker from Tilhar assembly segment of Shahjahanpur, who said he would go wherever Swami Prasad goes. Verma had taken Maurya’s resignation to the Raj Bhawan.

“We felt humiliated. I complained against a minister and officials but none heard me,” Verma said accusing some senior ministers in the UP government of not providing them respect. Another BJP lawmaker from Tindwari assembly segment in Banda, Brijesh Kumar Prajapati, sent in his resignation while Bhagwati Sagar, BJP lawmaker from Bilhaur, also quit.

Meanwhile, Swami Prasad Maurya’s supporters distributed sweets and said that the mercurial OBC grassroots leader would now strengthen the Samajwadi Party.

Some ministers too were said to be contemplating a similar switch but at least one of them – Dharam Singh Saini (also from the OBC community), who is close to Maurya, denied the buzz.

“It is true that Mauryaji is like my elder brother but I am not quitting the BJP. If my name is in circulation among such leaders who are to quit, I am not one of them,” said Saini.

Maurya, who said he didn’t get respect in the BJP and said he won’t reconsider his decision even if he was allowed to pick up a dozen candidates of his choice, had similarly quit the BSP in 2016 after failing to convince his then party chief Mayawati to field his son Utkrisht Maurya and daughter Sanghmitra on a BSP symbol. He had also alleged that Mayawati denied him a ticket from Padrauna Assembly segment as it was an area where Yogi Adityanath wielded a lot of influence.

On Tuesday, Maurya accused the Yogi Adityanath government of neglecting traders, backwards and virtually threatened the ruling party that it would get to know how much political backing and appeal he has.

“Swami Prasad Maurya ke pass janadhar kitna hai, ye 2022 mein BJP ko pata chal jayega jab woh haregi (how much political backing Swami Prasad has will be known in 2022 polls when BJP loses,” he said. Maurya’s daughter Sanghmitra Maurya is a BJP MP from Budaun from where she had defeated Samajwadi Party heavyweight Dharmendra Yadav.

In November, Sanghmitra Maurya was seen with SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav though back then, none had any inkling about the massive political development that was in the works.

“I don’t know what led to respected Swami Prasad Mauryaji’s resignation. I appeal to him discuss the issues as decisions taken in haste often prove to be wrong,” deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said in a tweet from Delhi.

Meanwhile, some BJP leaders began targeting Swami Prasad, making it clear that the bid to placate the OBC leader had failed.

“Keshav Prasad Maurya is sun, Swami Prasad Maurya is darkness,” tweeted BJP spokesman Gaurav Bhatia. UP minister Nand Gopal ‘Nandi’, the state’s minorities and civil aviation minister, also targeted Swami Prasad. “Swami Prasadji’s joining SP is like taking a decision that is doomed. To travel in the SP boat that is set to sink will prove to be self-destructive,” Nandi tweeted.


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