We all toe PM’s line on being united: Keshav Prasad Maurya
In his first newspaper interview since the Lok Sabha polls, Uttar Pradesh deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya predicted a strong BJP showing in the upcoming by-elections in the state
The BJP is poised to win most of the nine seats on the basis of organisational strength and achievements of the double-engine government in the state. We see fight only in one or two seats.
It is true that our party underperformed in the Lok Sabha polls in the state quite contrary to our confidence and expectations. The Congress-led Opposition succeeded in misleading voters with its false narratives. Now, their lies stand exposed. Moreover, the recent results of assembly elections in Haryana, where the BJP has formed the government for the third consecutive term, has given a befitting reply to the Opposition’s false narrative on issues like Agniveer and efforts to amend the Constitution.
It will not be proper for me to make any comment on the chief minister’s statement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is our supreme leader, has given the slogan “Ek hai toh safe hai” (if you are together, you’ll be safe). We all toe this line only. Our party has always talked of unity. The Opposition blows such statements out of context because they have to do politics of Muslim appeasement.
Certainly. The organisation was bigger than the government yesterday, it is today and will be tomorrow as well. It is only by dint of hard work by the organisation that we are in power both in the state and at the Centre. This is not the first time that I put the organisation above the government. Before 2022 also, I said the same thing in a tweet. But this time, the statement was misinterpreted with many believing that I was saying so in the light of adverse Lok Sabha polls results in the state. But that was not true. I am a disciplined soldier of my party. I adore PM Modi who had the courage of giving the call for “sabka saath sabka vikas” (development for all). Can Rahul Gandhi or Akhilesh Yadav show such courage?
(Smiles) No, this is not true. I have excellent relations with the CM. We both took the oath together in 2017, he as the CM and me as the deputy CM. We have been together since. This is the Opposition’s problem.
We will repeat 2017 in 2027 by winning more than 300 of the 403 seats.
This is something outside my remit. I cannot comment.
Having an ambition and the party’s decision are two different things. I am a disciplined party worker and discharge any duty given to me with all diligence and honesty.
PDA is nothing but a Parivar Development Authority. Akhilesh Yadav (of the SP) is a man of no vision. His party is full of criminals and goons. Good people cannot survive in his party. Those who are there today will leave the party soon. This is my prediction.
If he is such a well-wisher of SCs and OBCs, why does he not appoint a person from these castes as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha in his place? He should also nominate SCs and OBCs as party presidents in states. But he will never do this. Both Rahul and Akhilesh are feudalists and power-hungry.