The shadow boxing between Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya continued at a meeting of the BJP’s OBC Morcha on Monday.
Both Maurya and the other deputy, Brajesh Pathak, left before the CM’s arrival. In his brief address, Maurya reiterated his criticism of the government—the overlooking of party workers.
“Elections are not won by governments. They are won by parties,” he said.
Maurya added that overconfidence had done in the party in Uttar Pradesh. “The opposite of what the media predicts happens,” he said.
Adityanath, in his address, sought to recognise the strength of the Other Backward Castes—numerically the largest chunk in the state.
He recalled the OBC leaders killed in the state during the Samajwadi Party rule, and specifically mentioned the names Ramesh Patel and Ramesh Yadav who were in the security of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai (murdered in 2006) and BSP’s Raju Pal (killed in 2005).
“They (SP) embraced the mafia who killed them,” Adityanath said in reference to the opposition party’s proximity to Mukhtar Ansari and Atique Ahmed—both dead now.
The chief minister also went on to compare the OBCs to Lord Hanuman. Their strength, he said, was such that they could destroy Raavan’s Lanka anytime.
This was apparently in response to the SP’s claim of being the biggest representative of the OBCs.
“The backward castes were misguided and pitted against each other during the election,” Adityanath said.
Even if Adityanath appeared to be speaking in hyperbole, he wants to negate the efforts of Maurya (an OBC) to appear as his castemen’s greatest leader in the party.
As the Vidhan Sabha’s monsoon session kicked off, SP leader Shivpal Yadav also took a jibe at Maurya who he said was a ‘big talker’.
“He has nothing to do except flitting between Lucknow and Delhi. He cannot even manage his own ministry,’ Yadav said.
Maurya holds charge of rural development and food processing among others departments.
