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SP releases new list, BJP ex-minister Maurya not to contest from bastion
Former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who, last month, left the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Samajwadi Party (SP), will contest the upcoming state assembly elections from Kushinagar’s Fazilnagar seat, instead of the Padrauna seat, which he has represented since 2008.
Lucknow The Samajwadi Party has made three interesting moves in terms of candidates and constituencies , moving BJP-turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya to a safer seat; fielding union minister Anupriya Patel’s sister Pallavi Patel (they are on opposite sides) against the current deputy CM; and moved Abhishek Mishra to Sarojini Nagar to take on former ED official Rajeshwar Singh who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who, last month, left the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Samajwadi Party (SP), will contest the upcoming state assembly elections from Kushinagar’s Fazilnagar seat, instead of the Padrauna seat, which he has represented since 2008.
This means that Maurya, who joined the BJP in 2016 from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), will be up against the ruling party’s Surendra Kushwaha, the son of incumbent BJP MLA Ganga Singh Kushwaha. Swami Prasad Maurya was widely expected to face former Congress leader RPN Singh, who joined the BJP on January 25, from Padrauna, which, like Fazilnagar, falls in the Kushinagar district. In the Lok Sabha elections 2009, Singh defeated Maurya from the Kushinagar parliamentary seat. In 2014 and 2019, a BJP candidate won from the seat.
Ganga Singh Kushwaha won the seat both in 2012 and 2017 for the BJP, but the party replaced him with his son because he is now 80 years old. Both Swami Prasad Maurya and Surendra Kushwaha belong to other backward classes (OBCs).
By fielding Pallavi Patel, of Apna Dal (K), as the SP candidate on Sirathu seat, the SP has sought to pose a challenge to deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya . Both Keshav Prasad Maurya and Pallavi Patel are OBCs. Pallavi is the daughter of Krishna Patel, the wife of late Sonelal Patel and sister of the union minister Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (S), a BJP ally. Krishna Patel, the president of Apna Dal (K), allied with the SP. Sirathu has a significant population of Patels.
In the Sarojini Nagar (Lucknow) seat, the SP has fielded Abhishek Mishra, a minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s previous government (2012-17) and one of the SP’s next-gen leaders. Lucknow North was Mishra’s seat -- he won in 2012 and lost in 2017. The SP has fielded firebrand students’ leader Pooja Shukla, 25, who had shown the black flag to the chief minister Yogi Adityanath in June 2017 at the Lucknow University during a protest by some Lucknow University students in Lucknow North. By fielding Mishra, in Sarojini nagar, the SP hopes to challenge former Enforcement Directorate (ED) joint director Rajeshwar Singh of the BJP. The ruling BJP on Tuesday, dropped sitting lawmaker and minister Swati Singh from the Sarojini Nagar Assembly seat, replacing her with Rajeshwar Singh.
Political analyst CP Rai said Rajeshwar Singh and Abhishek are equally poised on Sarojni Nagar. “Whosoever wins or loses on these three seats now, will not be a shock or surprise. Both the parties are fighting fiercely, seat to seat. Swami Prasad Maurya was clearly not confident on Padrauna, but Fazilnagar won’t be a cake-walk. Abhishek Mishra would sure have had lost the Lucknow North. But now Rajeshwar Singh and Abhishek are equally poised on Sarojni Nagar. The deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maruya’s difficulties have just increased.”
With three tickets announced on Wednesday morning and 12 in the evening, the total number of seats on which the SP has fielded candidates reached 287 while the BJP has declared 315 candidates.
Uttar Pradesh is going to polls from February 10 in the seven-phase elections for the 403-member assembly. The last round of polling is on March 7, and the results will be declared on March 10.
