100 SP MLAs in touch with us, claims BJP in UP

Lucknow, Sep 8 (IANS) In a revelation that is bound to create a political buzz in Uttar Pradesh, deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has said that nearly 100 of the 111 Samajwadi Party MLAs were in touch with the BJP leaders.

He was responding to an offer made by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in which he said that if Maurya walks out with 100 BJP MLAs, SP would make him the chief minister.

Maurya has strongly countered Akhilesh Yadav's observations saying the SP chief was not in a position to keep his MLAs together and so, how could he make such an offer.

"Akhilesh is behaving like a fish out of water after he lost the Assembly polls. The Samajwadi Party is now Samaptwadi Party that is nearing its end," he added.

Maurya said that the BJP government had an overwhelming majority and did not need to break any other party.

State BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, an OBC leader, was also quick to respond to Akhilesh's remarks and advised him to worry about his own party's lawmakers.

"Akhilesh does not know much about Keshav Maurya who is a dedicated and proven party hand. He is firmly with us and instead of worrying about him, Akhilesh should worry more about his alliance partners, his family, his party, and his own party MLAs, many of whom are in touch with us," Chaudhary said.

Yadav's 'offer' to Maurya had a context. In 2017, the BJP came to power in the state when Maurya was the state party chief.

The SP and other opposition parties had then said that Maurya was not made the chief minister since he was from the OBC community.

The BJP had settled for Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister.

Maurya and Yadav were also at the centre of a bitter war of words in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly a couple of months ago.