In a major and unexpected jolt to the Bhartiya Janta Party, Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from his post as Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister and is likely to jump ship to the BJP’s main rival in the state – the Samajwadi Party.
And the party was further left stunned after three of its lawmakers – Tilhar MLA Roshan Lal Verma, Bilhaur MLA Bhagwati Prasad Sagar, and Tindwari MLA Brajesh Kumar Prajapati – waved goodbye to the saffron party and followed Maurya out of the door.
In his resignation letter, posted on Twitter, Maurya wrote that “despite a divergent ideology, I worked with dedication in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet".
And the reason we are talking about Maurya’s resignation in today’s episode is that while he may not be a prominent leader in the same lines as a Yogi Adityanath or Akhilesh Yadav, he is an important OBC leader.
His sudden departure from the BJP does raise questions on what is going on with the ruling party and whether this will shift the dynamics in the upcoming Assembly elections.
I am joined today by the political analyst Amitabh Tiwari, and Aditya Menon, The Quint’s Political Editor, to discuss the political implications of Maurya’s exit.
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