Picture : Twitter /ANI
In a massive jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh , OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from the state cabinet while three other MLAs announced they are quitting the party.
Maurya, who joined the Samajwadi Party, said he was resigning from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet due to “gross neglect” towards Dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small traders.
The SP tweeted a photograph of Swami Prasad Maurya and Varma with party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and said in Hindi, “Welcome to the Samajwadi Party. There will be a social justice revolution. There will be a change in 2022.”
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!
सामाजिक न्याय का इंक़लाब होगा ~ बाइस में बदलाव होगा#बाइसमेंबाइसिकल pic.twitter.com/BPvSK3GEDQ
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) January 11, 2022
“Due to the attitude of gross neglect towards Dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small and medium-sized traders, I am resigning from the Yogi ministry of Uttar Pradesh,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
Maurya, who hails from the other backward class community, had crossed over to the BJP from the Bahujan Samaj Party before the 2017 assembly polls.
He is a five-time MLA from Padrauna, while his daughter Sanghmitra Maurya is a BJP MP and represents Badaun in the Lok Sabha.
In a tweet, Yadav said, “This time all the oppressed, downtrodden, neglected will unite against the BJP’s insulting and divisive politics.
“There will be a revolution of SP’s politics of giving respect to all. In 2022, with everyone meeting each other, there will be positive politics of ‘mela hobe’. There will be a historic defeat of the BJP,” he said.
BJP Tindwari MLA Brajesh Prajapati, Tilhar MLA Roshan Lal Varma and Bilhaur MLA Bhagwati Sagar have also announced they are leaving the party in support of Maurya.
