New Delhi: Swami Prasad Maurya, the ex-BJP minister who quit the party and Yogi Adityanath-led state cabinet on Tuesday to join Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party with his other colleagues said that he will make sure that the saffron party shrinks back to the 45-seat standing in Uttar Pradesh Assembly.


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While talking to ANI, Maurya said that he introduced the other BJP MLAs, who left the saffron camp ahead of the assembly polls citing neglect towards backward classes as a reason to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in a high-level meeting and claimed that he will make the BJP lose the mandate it won in the assembly elections the last term.



“A formal meeting was held with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and I introduced my associates to him. The official announcement will be made tomorrow. We will make BJP shrink to 45 seats like it was before 2017,” Maurya told ANI.


Earlier in the day, Maurya targeted his former party for playing foul politics after his resignation alleging that an arrest warrant issued in his name in an 8-year old case was BJP’s doing and that no amount of cases can deter him from taking on the party.


“A non-bailable warrant has been issued against me in an 8 yr old case. It's just 2nd day of my resignation (as UP min). Even if dozens of cases are registered against me, my morale will not be weakened. The more they trouble me, the more strongly I'll defeat them,” ANI quoted Maurya as saying.


The warrant was issued by a local court on Wednesday in a 2014 case for allegedly making objectionable comments against Hindu gods.


Swami Prasad Maurya’s resignation gave rise to a mass exodus of ministers and MLA’s in BJP ahead of assembly polls. So far, 7 BJP leaders have quit the party to join Akhilesh Yadav’s SP.


Uttar Pradesh, one of the most politically significant states, will go to the polls from February 10 to March 7 in seven phases.



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