Swami Prasad Maurya quits Samajwadi Party's top-level post, cites discrimination

Swami Prasad Maurya said he will continue to work to strengthen party without any post.

Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday announced quitting from the post of party's national general secretary. In his resignation letter to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Swami Prasad Maurya said he would continue to work to strengthen the party without any post.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and party leader Swami Prasad Maurya. (Deepak Gupta/HT Photo)

“I couldn't understand how, as a national general secretary, any statement of mine becomes personal, while there are other national general secretaries and leaders whose every statement becomes a party statement. It's perplexing how, among officials of the same level, some statements are considered personal and others party statements,” Maurya expressed surprise at the lack of support from senior party leaders when he faced attacks from opposition parties.

Notably, Swami Prasad Maurya has been known for making controversial statements regarding the Ramcharitmanas and the Ayodhya temple consecration ceremony.

“If there is discrimination even in the post of National General Secretary, then I believe there is no justification for continuing in such a discriminatory and insignificant position,” he said.

Maurya also said that his proposal for Rath Yatra, a state-wide yatra programme to “save the Constitution and to protest against the sale of the country's national assets to private hand” did not get go ahead.

A member of the state legislative council, Maurya had previously switched from the BJP to the Samajwadi Party before the 2022 polls. Although he contested the assembly elections from Fazilnagar, he did not secure victory.