Days after resigning from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Swami Prasad Maurya, along with Dharam Singh Saini and other rebel BJP MLAs, officially joined the Samajwadi Party on Friday on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.
The move by Maurya and other rebel MLAs has been seen as a setback for the ruling BJP, which had OBC support in the 2017 UP assembly elections and the 2019 general elections. The SP chief welcomed Maurya and others.
Responding to Yogi Adityanath’s 80% vs 20% election pitch, Swami Prasad Maurya said the fight has now become 85% vs 15% and the BJP will be left with less than 8% to 10% of the votes.
Addressing the crowd on the occasion, Swami Prasad Maurya said, “Makar Sankranti is the day when the historic end of BJP will come. Big leaders of BJP, who never paid heed to our demands, are now having sleepless nights. BJP leaders are asking why we have not resigned in the last five years, some are saying that I left BJP because of my son. I want to tell them that BJP has cheated the backward, dalits, minorities and youth of the country. BJP formed the government by redeeming the names of Keshav Prasad Maurya and Swami Prasad Maurya. There was talk of making any of us CM, but they were duping Dalits and backwards by bringing someone from Gorakhpur.
“Today the upper caste people are enjoying, while the backward castes and Dalits are struggling. They say the choice is 80% vs 20%, but I say now its 85% vs 15%, 85% is ours and 15% is divided (85% is ours and 15% is divided too). BJP leaders say that they will win on the Hindu card, then why did they try to play with the reservation given to Dalits and Backwards. Appointment letters were given to 19,000 people in the general category, while 69,000 appointments were approved. I want to know whether backward and Dalit are not Hindus? If yes, why did you give their reservation to others,” Maurya asked.
Further attacking the BJP, Swami Prasad Maurya said, “When I was in the cabinet, there was a proposal that the posts should be filled from general category applicants without advertisement as there were no applicants from Dalit and backward communities. I strongly objected. And CM took note of my objection, but still they didn’t stop the proposal. Now they are giving government sector to private sector to end reservation. When things go in private hands then there will be no reservation. Yogi Sir, I want to say that sitting on CM’s chair you are committing a sin. Do you think only upper caste people are Hindus? If you think only they are 10% Hindu then your packup is certain. Now, all Backward, Dalit and all are against you. With you there will be further division in those 8 to 10% because there are many socialists and Ambedkarites in that percentage.”
He said, “I thought that after spending 14 years in exile, BJP would have learned a lesson, but it seems that once again they will return to their pre-2017 situation. I want to tell BJP leaders that after today”. Tsunami will come. Which will destroy the state BJP. I shook hands with Akhilesh Yadav because he is young, educated and capable, I will put crores of people behind me and destroy BJP. I also challenge that I The one I leave does not stand anywhere. Behen ji (Mayawati) is a living example, as long as I was with her, she was the CM. I left her, today she is nowhere to be seen,” Maurya said. He also claimed that if there was no MCC and there was no corona protocol, lakhs of people would have come to attend today’s historic event.
Dharam Singh Saini, another former BJP minister who joined the Samajwadi Party, said, “Today’s program is being held in the party office because of the model code of conduct, otherwise there would have been more than 10 lakh people if there was no ban.” On Makar Sankranti, we take an oath to save the Constitution and to save Dalits from atrocities, we take a pledge that we will form a socialist government on 10 March. The humanity and respect I got from Akhilesh ji was not found anywhere else. Because I have been in both BSP and BJP. I will administer oath to you (Akhilesh Yadav) as Chief Minister in March and will administer oath of office to you as Prime Minister in 2024.
Those who joined Samajwadi Party included Bhagwati Sagar, rebel MLA from Bilhaur Kanpur, Vinay Shakya, rebel MLA from Bidhuna Auraiya, Roshan Lal Verma, MLA from Tilhar Shahjahpur, Mukesh Verma, rebel MLA from Shikohabad, Brajesh Kumar Prajapati, MLA from Tindwari Banda, Chaudhary Amar Singh, MLA from Shohratgarh Apna Dal (S), Ali Yusuf, former MLA, former minister Ram Bharti, former MLA Neeraj Maurya, former MLC Meerut Harpal Saini, former MLA of Moradabad Balram Saini, former MLA of Mirzapur Rajendra Pratap Singh, Former Minister of State Vidrohi Maurya, Chief Security Officer Padam Singh, former MLA Bansi Singh Pahadia; Amarnath Maurya Chairman, Cooperative Bank, RK Maurya, Social Activist, Balram Maurya, State Backward Classes Commission Member and Chaudhary Harpal Singh, Bharatiya Kisan Union.
Earlier on Thursday, resignations were showered in the Uttar Pradesh BJP with Shikohabad MLA and backward caste leader Mukesh Verma resigning from the primary membership of the party a few weeks before the assembly elections. So far, 13 MLAs, including two ministers, have resigned from the BJP ahead of the February-March elections, most in the last 72 hours.
Speaking to reporters, Verma said that he is following the influential OBC leader and minister Swami Prasad Maurya from the ruling party. Swami Prasad Maurya is our leader. We will support whatever decision he takes. Many more leaders will join us in the coming days.
Mukesh Verma represents the Shikohabad constituency which comes under Firozabad district in western Uttar Pradesh, which goes to the polls in the initial phases of seven phases of polling in the state.
Mukesh Verma, Avtar Singh Bhadana, Brijesh Kumar Prajapati, Roshan Lal Verma, Bhagwati Sagar, Vinay Shakya and Bala Prasad Awasthi have resigned after the exit of ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Dara Singh Chouhan from the BJP. Earlier, four MLAs Madhuri Verma, Digvijay Nath Choubey, Radha Krishna Sharma and Rakesh Rathore had quit the party.
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