The BJP received a severe blow in Uttar Pradesh, and the Yogi Adityanath government suffered a major setback ahead of high-stakes legislative elections.
Swami Prasad Maurya, the UP Minister of Labour, Employment, and Coordination, resigned and left the BJP.
Swami Prasad Maurya, a former Bahujan Samaj Party senior politician, switched to the BJP soon before the 2017 Assembly elections. In 2017, he was appointed Labour Minister after winning the Padrauna seat on a BJP ticket.
His reason for resigning was the government’s apparent neglect of Dalits, backward classes, unemployed youth, laborers, and small-scale traders.
Three additional MLAs, Roshan Lal Verma, Brijesh Prajapati, and Bhagwati Sagar, announced their resignations shortly after he went public.
The other three defectors also followed Mr. Maurya’s path from the BSP to the BJP to the Samajwadi Party.
“Despite our ideological differences, I worked hard in Yogi Adityanath’s ministry. However, I am resigning due to the severe mistreatment of Dalits, OBCs, farmers, the unemployed, and small business owners “Swami Prasad Maurya’s resignation letter were scathing.
Soon after Swami Prasad Maurya’s resignation, Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party and the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, posted a photo of himself with the ex-minister on Twitter, writing, “Warm greetings to the party’s popular leader Swami Prasad Maurya ji, as well as other leaders and workers who fought for social justice and equality! There will be a social justice movement, and there will be change.”
Swami Prasad Maurya is expected to join the Samajwadi Party, according to sources. In his resignation letter, he expressed his displeasure with the marginalization of Dalits and other marginalized people.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya made a futile attempt to dissuade his colleague by posting an appeal on Twitter: “I’m not sure why Swami Prasad Maurya left, but I implore him to reconsider and come back. Hasty decisions might have unintended consequences.”
