Team Yogi fights OBC blow before U.P polls; Can Akhilesh swing it in his favour?

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections, the Yogi-led BJP government is facing back-to-back setbacks. It all began with Swami Prasad Maurya’s exit from the party. Since then, 2 more ministers and 7 BJP MLAs have tendered their resignations. Most of them have switched over to Samajwadi Party and joined hands with Akhilesh Yadav. The former Uttar Pradesh CM has now sounded the poll bugle terming the exodus in team Yogi as ‘Mela Hobe’. All the 10 leaders who delivered a jolt to the BJP in state are prominent OBC faces and their exit indicates that the BJP’s hold on the non-dominant backward groups, a key demographic that helped the party win the 2017 state and 2019 general elections, may be slipping. The big question is - Can Akhilesh Yadav exploit exodus in BJP to his benefit? Hindustan Times Senior Editor Aditi Prasad debates with experts.