Swami Prasad Maurya, while resigning, took exception to some Samajwadi Party leaders terming his statements “personal” and not coming to his defence.

Lok Sabha Polls: Former MLC Swami Prasad Maurya Thursday launched his own political party, days after severing ties with the Samajwadi Party (SP). Maurya, who resigned from the SP’s primary membership on February 20, launched his new political party — the Rashtriya Shoshit Samaaj Party (RSSP) in New Delhi today.

Earlier, Swami Prasad Maurya had resigned as the national general secretary of the Samajwadi Party on February, accusing the party’s leadership of discriminating against him and not backing him over his  controversial remarks on the Hindu epic Ramcharitmanas and the Ayodhya Ram Mandir consecration ceremony.

Week later, Maurya quit his MLC seat in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, resigned from the SP’s primary membership, and announced that he will form a new party.

“I got an opportunity to work with you. But after our talks on February 12 and my resignation (as national general secretary) on February 13, no initiative of any talks with me was taken due to which I am resigning from the primary membership of the party,” Maurya wrote in his resignation letter to party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

He also shared the letter on his social media accounts.

INDIA bloc need of the hour

In a separate letter to the chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, Maurya said, “I was elected as a Samajwadi Party member in the legislative council. As I have resigned from the primary membership of the party, I am also resigning as MLC (member of legislative council) on the basis of morality.”

He said, “Whenever someone tried to attack the ideology, I made no delay in leaving my posts. It has been decided that on February 22 I will announce the new party at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi and will take the opinion of the workers and make a future strategy.”

Asked whether he would join INDIA bloc or NDA, he made no direct reply, but said INDIA bloc is the need of the hour in the present scenario.

‘Party did not back my statements’

Swami Prasad Maurya, while resigning, took exception to some Samajwadi Party leaders terming his statements “personal” and not coming to his defence.

“I was surprised when a senior most leader of the party, instead of remaining silent, tried to break the morale of the workers by saying my statements are personal,” he said.

“I could not understand that I am a national general secretary whose statement becomes a personal statement. There are some national general secretaries and leaders whose every statement becomes a party statement.

“How the statements of those on the same post become party statements and mine become personal is beyond understanding,” he added.

He also claimed that people from tribal communities, Dalits and backward classes were drawn to the party because of his efforts.

Maurya was earlier attacked by party leader Manoj Kumar Pandey over his several statements on religion, labelling him as someone who had lost his marbles.

“The person who lost mental balance keeps making such statements. The party has repeatedly asked him not to do so, but when a deranged man does not want to listen to instructions, no one can do anything,” Pandey had said.

SP leader Shivpal Yadav also termed Maurya’s statements on Hindu Gods as his personal remarks.

SP not following its own rules

Maurya also questioned the distribution of SP tickets for Rajya Sabha polls, scheduled to take place February 27, for which the party has fielded Ramjilal Suman, Jaya Bachchan and Alok Ranjan, saying that party has not followed its own call for support to the “PDA.”

PDA is the acronym given by SP chief Yadav to refer to “Picchde, Dalit, and Alpsankhyak.”

He also said that till SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav is there in the party, it has a dark future.

He even questioned the secular character of the party, saying the party held a “Shaligram puja” in its office.

“Even the BJP never performed puja in its office. But SP did that in its office,” he said.

Akhilesh Yadav had recently conducted a Shaligram puja in the party office. The ‘Shila’ (rock) is to be installed at Kedareshwar temple in Etawah being constructed by Yadav.

Who is Swami Prasad Maurya?

A member of the state legislative council from the SP, Swami Prasad Maurya had joined the Samajwadi Party after quitting the BJP ahead of the 2022 polls and unsuccessfully contested the assembly polls from Fazilnagar. Notably, Maurya’s daughter Sanghmitra is the BJP MP from Budaun.

Maurya, who is considered a prominent leader of the backward classes in the state, has also been a member of the Legislative Assembly five times, a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, leader of the House and leader of the opposition (2012-17) when he was in BSP.

He was the labour minister in the Yogi Adityanath government between 2017 and 2022 and quit the BJP ahead of the last assembly election.

(With PTI inputs)