Lucknow: The exits from BJP continue today, as seventh BJP MLA and backward caste leader Mukesh Verma quits the party before Uttar Pradesh Polls. Mukesh Verma posted his resignation on Twitter and surfaced at the home of Swami Prasad Maurya, who started the exodus.
Mukesh Verma, an MLA from Firozabad in western Uttar Pradesh, is also an Other Backward Class leader just like the Swami Prasad Maurya and four others who have quit the BJP in the last three days.
“Nobody listens to us,” Verma told NDTV, refusing to reveal whether he was moving to the Samajwadi Party.
His resignation letter, and the letters of others who have resigned, reflect that, the party is neglecting backward castes in Uttar Pradesh. But he went a step further by calling Swami Prasad Maurya “the voice of the oppressed” and “our leader” in his letter.
“The BJP government in the past five years did not pay any attention to Dalits, backward castes and minorities and disrespected people’s representatives,” Verma wrote in his resignation letter.
“The state government has oppressed Dalits, backward castes. Farmers, unemployed youth and small and medium industries. Because of these policies I am quitting the party. Swami Prasad Maurya is the voice of the oppressed and our leader. I am with him,” the MLA said.
There are chances that all the seven, who left BJP, might join Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
Maurya, believed to be the prime mover in these exits, has yet to confirm his switch to the Samajwadi Party. He said yesterday that he would announce his plans on Friday.
However, Akhilesh Yadav has been tweeting images with the leaders who are resigning from the BJP.
The loss of seven backward caste leaders is a huge blow for the BJP ahead of the election; the party was banking on Mr Maurya and other backward caste leaders to hold up a very important part of its election math.
Other MLAs who resigned from the UP BJP since Tuesday are:
- Swami Prasad Maurya, also a prominent Other Backward Class leader, had quit the state cabinet.
- BJP MLA Avtar Singh Bhadana quit the party on Wednesday and is joining the Rashtriya Lok Dal, an SP ally.
- Three other BJP MLAs — BJP MLAs Tindwari’s Brajesh Prajapati, Tilhar’s Roshan Lal Varma and Bilhaur’s Bhagwati Sagar — announced their resignation from the party.
- On Tuesday, Vinay Kumar Shakya from Bidhuna, too, announced his resignation.
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