File Photo of Swami Prasad Maurya
Addressing reporters after meeting Rahul at 10 Janpath, Maurya said the alliance strategy and the number of seats his party would contest would be decided later. Maurya, once a confidante of Mayawati and held key portfolios in the BSP govt, had switched to the BJP from Bahujan Samaj Party months ahead of 2017 assembly elections. He was the labour minister in Yogi 1.0 govt broke away with party ahead of 2022 UP Assembly elections, accusing it of neglecting Dalits, OBCs and farmers. He then joined the Samajwadi Party but alliance with the SP was also short and he left it before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and launched his party.
“Our goal will be to remove BJP and save nation,” he added. Maurya said his party would work with INDIA bloc on issues concerning SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities. Political analysts said Maurya’s utility for INDIA bloc could lie in strengthening its outreach to non-Yadav OBC voters, particularly in eastern UP, where he has had a political base.
At present, Maurya is the national president of Apni Janata Party. His joining brings an established OBC voice into the opposition camp as parties prepare to consolidate their support among non-Yadav OBC communities in UP. Maurya has had a long political association with OBC mobilisation.
Lucknow: Former UP minister and OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya met Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Saturday and announced that his party would join the INDIA bloc ahead of the UP elections.