Yogi or new face, party leadership will decide: Swamy Prasad Maurya
After Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, another senior BJP leader and UP Minister Swami Prasad Maurya said that the BJP might change its Chief Minister after elections in Uttar Pradesh and it will be decided by the central leadership.
“All possibilities are there post Assembly elections in 2022. We can have a new face or Yogi Adityanath can continue as Chief Minister of the State. The decision will be taken by the central leadership or the legislature party of the BJP,” Maurya told a select group of journalists here.
To buttress his point, he said that the 2017 election was contested without projecting anyone as Chief Minister. After the election, the central leadership chose Yogi as Chief Minister and he is now our leader and the party will contest the 2022 Assembly election under his leadership.
“This does not mean we cannot have a change in Chief Minister. The call will be taken by the central leadership depending on the situation then,” he said hinting that if after elections the BJP gets majority and backwards are in dominant position they might ask for change in leadership.
This is not new in BJP as it happened in Assam where the BJP contested election under the leadership of former CM Sarbananda Sonowal but after election Himanta Biswa Sarma was declared CM by Central leadership.
Swami Prasad, Labour Minister in the Yogi Cabinet, is second Minister after Keshav Prasad Maurya who had claimed that Central leadership will take a call on Chief Minister. Today’s statement holds importance because there is a feeling that people from the backward castes were neglected in the government and this anger might prove costly for the party.
Mauryas are backwards by caste. Backwards account for around 32% of votes in UP and are in the dominant position in the caste matrix of this cow belt. The combination of backwards and upper caste can catapult any party to power.