Former BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who has kept his cards close to his chest after parting company with BSP chief Mayawati, would be deciding on his next political move in the first week of next month.
As of now, BJP has turned ‘hopeful’ of roping in Maurya following the breakdown of his talks with Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders.
In the poll bound Uttar Pradesh, a Dalit leader of Maurya’s seniority has turned out to be a prized catch for the rivals like BJP and the SP. BJP is sensing opportunity to usher Maurya in as SP leaders have publicly rejected his demands as highly unrealistic and apparently closed the doors on him.
Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Agra’s BJP MP Ram Shankar Katheria has, meanwhile, claimed that Maurya will soon join the BJP which has though not been corroborated by Maurya who is set to announce his decision in first week of July after discussing the issue with “the followers”. “Swami Prasad Maurya BJP mein aa rahe hain (he is coming to BJP),” Katheria claimed.
As against this, Maurya, who recently accused “behanji” (Mayawati) of selling tickets for the ensuing Assembly elections in the State, has maintained that so far he hasn’t had any talks with the BJP.
The former BSP leader’s refrain has been that he would first consult his supporters and voters before arriving at a decision in about week’s time.
The interest shown by the BJP in Maurya is backed by party president Amit Shah and other senior leaders who trust that a chunk of Dalit voters could spin off a social engineering of upper caste, non-Yadav OBCs and Dalit could give them a define edge vis-à-vis a single caste ‘Yadav’/ ‘Ahir’ dominated SP and ‘Jatav’ dominated BSP.