Akhilesh takes a swipe at U.P. Deputy CM Maurya, calls him a ‘pawn’

Keshav Prasad Maurya, in turn, called SP chief a pawn of the Congress party

Updated - July 26, 2024 11:39 pm IST - Lucknow

Samajwadi party national president Akhilesh Yadav inaugurating samvidhan manastambh at party office, in Lucknow on July 26, 2024.

Samajwadi party national president Akhilesh Yadav inaugurating samvidhan manastambh at party office, in Lucknow on July 26, 2024. | Photo Credit: Sandeep Saxena

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on July 26 described Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya a “mohra” (pawn) after which Keshav Prasad Maurya hit back by calling SP chief the “mohra” of the Congress party and suggested that he should save SP from “extinction”.

“These people [the BJP] spoiled our State. Every system and every department are being destroyed... I heard that Maurya ji (Keshav Prasad Maurya) is ‘mohra’. He is the password of Delhi’s WiFi. Tell me, will the government run like this?...They cheated the people of Uttar Pradesh and the mandate,” Mr. Yadav said addressing a press conference in Lucknow.

Mr. Yadav pushing his backward, Dalit, and minorities plank hinted at the caste identity of the U.P. Chief Minister and other top State functionaries. “Who is the Chief Minister, who is the chief secretary, who is the principal secretary (home), who are in other departments, you people used to raise the question of casteism, this is a serious question,” Mr. Yadav said.

Mr. Yadav unveiled Samvidhan Manastambh established to house a copy of the Constitution at the SP office in Lucknow and vowed to save the ideas of the Constitution and rights of backwards, Dalits, minorities, and other deprived sections.

Hitting back at the SP president’s remarks, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said, “The SP leader, Akhilesh Yadav, who has become a pawn of the Congress, is harbouring misunderstandings about the BJP. Instead of targeting and insulting the backward sections, focus on saving SP from extinction. The BJP will repeat 2017 in 2027, the lotus has bloomed and will keep blooming.”

Mr. Maurya accused the SP chief of being anti-backward and anti-Dalit. “The SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and his family are staunch opponents of the backward classes and the Dalits. The SP’s PDA is a big fraud. The Congress pawn Akhilesh Yadav is playing in the hands of foreign powers, left no stone unturned to prevent the Prime Minister Narendra Modi from becoming the Prime Minister for the third time,” the Deputy CM wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Earlier on July 18, in a post on X, the SP chief announced a “monsoon offer” in which he asked dissidents to bring a hundred MLAs and form the government in Uttar Pradesh. The monsoon offer was amid the speculation of a ‘rift’ within the Uttar Pradesh unit of the ruling BJP after the Lok Sabha election. In the past weeks many ruling parties MLAs questioned the functioning of the BJP government, after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance performed below expectations in the 2024 election winning 33 Lok Sabha seats in U.P. on its own, 29 less than the number of seats it won in 2019 election.

U.P. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya himself giving weight to the speculation of rift reiterating on multiple occasions in the last two weeks that the BJP’s organisation is bigger than the government. “The organisation is bigger than the government, the pain of the workers is my pain. No one is bigger than the organisation,” he said.

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