Seeking to fish in seemingly troubled waters, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has given “monsoon offer” to the BJP MLAs who wanted to switch over. It was apparently a repeat offer to Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Taking a swipe at the BJP amid talks of infighting within the Yogi Adityanath government, Akhilesh made a cryptic post on X that sparked a buzz. Now a Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj, Akhilesh Yadav wrote on X: “Monsoon offer: bring 100, form the government.”
The short post appeared to be a replug of Yadav’s past offer to Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. In December last year, Akhilesh had called Maurya a “very weak man”.
“He had dreamt of becoming chief minister, he should get 100 MLAs. He had once claimed that he had the support of over a 100 MLAs. He should get them, Samajwadi Party will support him (for chief minister),” he had said, adding that the former UP BJP chief was with the party despite being humiliated.
The post of the SP chief on Thursday is being seen as another veiled swipe at Maurya, who sparked a buzz in political circles after his “organisation is bigger than the government” comment during the state executive meeting here on Sunday.
The remark was widely seen as a veiled attack on Chief Minister Adityanath, who has said that “overconfidence” cost the BJP in UP in the recently concluded general elections.
A senior Samajwadi Party leader said that Akhilesh Yadav’s “monsoon offer” post on X was a message to those in BJP who wanted to switch over.
“The SP won 111 seats in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and if we get the support of 100 dissatisfied BJP MLAs, we will easily form the government,” the Samajwadi Party leader explained.
The BJP’s poor showing in Uttar Pradesh has intensified friction with the organisation and set off a buzz over a tussle between Yogi Adityanath and Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Supporters of the two leaders are blaming each other for the poll debacle.
The BJP’s central leadership is watching too. It has asked state leaders to resolve differences and concentrate on the upcoming bypolls to 10 assembly seats. Party sources have also rejected reports of a possible change in the state leadership.
“There will be no change in leadership until then. They have asked us to fix things and advised against complaints at this time,” a source said.
The SP chief, meanwhile, is daily taking pot-shots at the ruling party. In a swipe at the BJP on Wednesday, Yadav had said the people of Uttar Pradesh wree fed up with the “game of thrones'', drawing a sharp response from Maurya, who stressed that the BJP had strong governments and organisation at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh and that the Samajwadi Party had no chance of a comeback.
