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Maurya’s exit after 20 years in BSP may hit Dalit vote bank
LUCKNOW: Swami Prasad Maurya was known as the backward class face of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which he joined nearly 20 years ago before quitting in a huff
LUCKNOW: Swami Prasad Maurya was known as the backward class face of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which he joined nearly 20 years ago before quitting in a huff on Wednesday.
His importance in the party can be gauged from the fact that he held three key posts — the party’s national general secretary, leader of opposition in the state assembly and leader of the BSP legislature party.
Maurya, 62, was president of the party’s state unit in 2010.
Maurya lost the 2007 assembly election from Unchahar before he was elected from Padrauna in a by-poll a year later.
He was appointed cabinet minister and tasked with motivating the backward communities to support the BSP.
He was also made head of the bhai-chara (brotherhood) committee constituted to woo the Maurya and Kushwaha communities.
A fiery orator, Maurya led the attack on rival parties in the assembly and at political meetings.
He was also the most visible party leader after Mayawati.
A post-graduate in geography from Allahabad University, Maurya joined politics in his student days and contested the university students’ union election.
Soon, he established himself as a leader of the backward castes in the state. Maurya joined the Lok Dal and was appointed its general secretary in 1989.
He played an important role in the merger of the Lok Dal with the Janata Dal and was appointed its state general secretary.
After differences with Janata Dal leaders over an alliance with Maulayam Singh Yadav, Maurya quit the party and joined the BSP on January 20, 1996.
There is no leader in the BSP to fill the void left by Maurya, observers feel, adding his departure will affect the party in the 2017 assembly election.
AK Mishra, a political observer, said, “The BSP’s support base among the backward classes has shriveled with the desertion of Maurya.”
