UP minister, 3 BJP MLAs switch to Akhilesh camp

12 January,2022 07:44 AM IST |  Lucknow  |  Agencies

Swami Prasad Maurya is a powerful OBC leader and five-time MLA; his daughter Sanghmitra is a BJP MP; UP polls will be held in 7 phases

Former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, in Lucknow on Tuesday. PIC/ANI


Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, state minister Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday resigned from the state cabinet and joined hands with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP). Informing about his decision, Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi, "Due to the attitude of gross neglect towards Dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small and medium-sized traders, I am resigning from the council of ministers of Yogi (Adityanath) of UP."

Yadav shared a photo of him with Maurya on Twitter, and welcomed him into the SP fold. In his resignation letter addressed to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Maurya said, "I discharged my responsibilities as the minister for labour, employment, coordination in the council of ministers headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, despite adverse (‘vipreet') circumstances and ideology." Maurya, who hails from a backward caste, had joined the BJP before the 2017 assembly polls. He is the MLA from Padrauna.

His daughter Sanghmitra Maurya is a BJP MP and represents Badaun in Lok Sabha. 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.

Asked about hate speech, UP deputy CM ends interview

Uttar Pradesh BJP leader Keshav Prasad Maurya, apparently lost his cool at questions on hate speeches at the Haridwar Dharma Sansad, stopped an interview midway, pulled the reporter's mask and forced the team to delete the recording, BBC has said.

Maurya, the UP deputy chief minister, later called it an "unortunate incident". In the BBC video, the interviewer asked the deputy CM about the Haridwar event and the silence of top BJP leaders, including UP CM Yogi Adityanath, on hate speeches.

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uttar pradesh Maharashtra Assembly Polls samajwadi party akhilesh yadav lucknow national news
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