August 31, 2026 01:39 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
VHP breaks silence on Durga Puja ‘guidelines’: No blanket non-veg ban, clarifies stand on theme pandals amid backlash | No non-veg near pandals, no ‘distorted’ idols: VHP’s Durga Puja guidelines spark Bengal debate | ‘Either they will stay, or we will’: Suvendu Adhikari's warning to Jadavpur students over 'Azadi' slogans | 'Inaccurate reports': Penguin India denies dropping Sonia Gandhi memoir | ‘Clean my shoes’: Greater Noida woman detained after alleged abuse, assault of security guards | 21-year-old model stabbed to death in Delhi; gym trainer arrested after encounter | Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O'Brien, other TMC leaders booked after Camac Street clash with Kolkata Police | Kanpur plane crash: Training aircraft crashes near Ganges, two pilots killed | Big IT boost for Bengal: LTM opens global delivery & AI centre in Kolkata's New Town | 21-year-old Delhi model found stabbed at Delhi home, gym trainer accused of killing her
UP Polls 2022
Image Credit: Facebook/Akhilesh Yadav

UP Minister Swami Prasad Maurya quits BJP, joins Akhilesh's SP ahead of state polls

| @indiablooms | Jan 11, 2022, at 09:19 pm

Lucknow/IBNS: In a jolt to the saffron camp ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, state minister Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday quit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined its prime opponent Samajwadi Party (SP), whose chief Akhilesh Yadav is aiming to become the Chief Minister for the second term.

Maurya wrote in his resignation letter, "Despite a divergent ideology, I worked with dedication in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet. But because of the grave oppression of Dalits, OBCs, farmers, unemployed and small businessmen, I am resigning."

If a few reports are to be believed, Maurya's step will be followed by some more BJP leaders, who are thinking of joining the SP.

Inducting Maurya to his partyfold, SP president Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, "Warm welcome and greetings to the popular leader Shri Swami Prasad Maurya Ji, who fought for social justice and equality and all the other leaders, workers and supporters who came with him in SP!

"There will be revolution of social justice~ There will be change in twenty."

Egg-faced by the desertion, UP Deputy Chief Minister and BJP strongman, Keshav Prasad Maurya, tweeted, "I don't know why Swami Prasad Maurya resigned. I appeal to him to sit and talk. Any decision taken in haste often backfires."

Uttar Pradesh will go to polls in seven phases from Feb 10 to Mar 7.

The results will be declared on Mar 10.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.