On CM post offer by Akhilesh, Yogi's deputy says 'their 100 MLAs ready to join…'

Keshav Prasad Maurya has been retained as the deputy chief minister in the Yogi Adityanath government while Akhilesh Yadav is serving as the leader of the opposition in the assembly.

Published on: Sep 8, 2022, 08:09:40 IST

By HT News Desk | Edited by Kunal Gaurav

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Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Wednesday ridiculed Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's advice to cross over with 100 BJP MLAs and become the chief minister, saying the SP leader was making “absurd comments” to remain in the news. Yadav had said on a television show that if Maurya takes a leaf out of what happened in Bihar, Samajwadi Party will support him. (Also Read | U.P. BJP chief quits Yogi ministry, Keshav may get panchayati raj too)

Uttar Pradesh deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

"Akhilesh Yadav is behaving like a fish without water ever since he has been thrown out of power," Maurya told reporters in Barabanki.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader claimed that 100 Samajwadi Party legislators are ready to jump ship but his party doesn't need them.

"His 100 MLAs are ready to join the BJP but we don't need to break his party because our government is running smoothly with full majority."

"He is making such absurd comments to remain in the news. Akhilesh Yadav is not my well wisher but he is against the BJP and backwards," Maurya alleged.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary slammed Akhilesh for his open offer and said the SP chief should worry about his "alliance his family, and his party because his MLAs are in touch with us."

"Keshavji is a proven worker of the organisation and dedicated to the BJP's ideology. He will always be with us, he is not a selfish person. He will control Akhilesh Yadav, he (Yadav) won't be able to control him," Chaudhary said in a tweet in Hindi.

The newly appointed state BJP chief said, "Akhilesh Yadav should worry about his alliance, his family, and his party because his MLAs are in touch with us."

Yadav was able to bring smaller parties, including his uncle Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya), on board before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. But fissures in the alliance have been visible since BJP's resounding victory in the state elections. While Shivpal Yadav recently parted ways with Akhilesh, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar, another alliance partner of the Samajwadi Party, backed NDA's winning presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. Rajbhar has lately been making headlines for attacking and taunting Akhilesh Yadav.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)

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HT News Desk
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