How Swami Prasad Maurya is keeping both SP and BJP guessing in UP

Swami Prasad Maurya's exit from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has triggered a new war between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BJP. The war to appropriate perfect caste combination in UP has begun in earnest. And though there is no certainty as to which party Maurya will eventually join, initial indications all point towards Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SP.

After his press conference, when Swami Prasad Maurya met senior SP leaders, including Shivpal Yadav, to weigh in all permutations and combinations, it led to a lot of speculation.

Also read: Swami Prasad Maurya headed to SP, will hurt Mayawati in UP polls

Sources say that one of the things which Maurya is actively looking for is getting Assembly election tickets for his son and daughter. This meeting triggered an avalanche of conjecture over the possibility of Maurya joining the soon-to-be-expanded cabinet of Akhilesh Yadav's govt taking place on June 27.

Chief minister of UP, Akhilesh Yadav, said, "Swami is a strong leader and I have known him for a long time. He is the right person but was in a wrong party." And then added, "But where he will go I don't know".

Swami Prasad Maurya, on his part, also kept the suspense alive and downplayed this meeting with Shivpal Yadav. He said, "You meet several people on your way, but do you attribute motive to every meeting? After my press conference, I ran into Shivpal Yadav and we talked. It was a normal meeting and had nothing to do with me joining Samajwadi Party".

But SP is not the only one who is working overtime to lure Swami Prasad Maurya in.

Also read: Why people are right in thinking BSP will win UP Assembly polls

More than SP, it is BJP which believes that if they are able to net Maurya, then it will be a big morale booster for the party and a boost for the RSS which is working overtime to consolidate the OBC votes in Uttar Pradesh.

Keshav Prasad Maurya was made UP BJP president with OBC voters in mind and the Sangh feels that if they get Swami Maurya into BJP fold, it will send a positive message to the OBC community.

The fact that both Swami Prasad and BJP president Keshav Maurya are from neighbouring districts - Allahabad and Pratapgarh - and also that both of them had studied at Allahabad University, has made the BJP hopeful.

Informed sources within the BJP tell us that "Operation Swami Prasad Maurya" is being worked out at the top level of the party and he might have already spoken to party president Amit Shah about this.

But Swami Prasad Maurya dismisses these rumours saying media is letting its imagination run riot.

When asked about Keshav Prasad Maurya and him being in touch, Swami was almost condescending. “Keshav Prasad Maurya is like a child compared to me in politics," he said.

According to people close to Swami, BJP may have missed this chance to SP.

When asked, Keshav Prasad Maurya declined to divulge much but admitted that BJP is watching the developments in the state like a hawk. "BJP doesn’t need a Swami Prasad Maurya to win Uttar Pradesh, but yes we are keeping a close eye on the developments," he said.

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Though Keshav Prasad Maurya, on the face of it, doesn't want to sound eager, he knows how Swami fits in the larger scheme of things for the BJP. The party feels that with Swami’s entry, a definite edge to the cross-caste Hindu narrative will come about which it is trying to build assiduously in UP.

According to this approach, the BJP is pitching itself as the true political alternative to the incumbent Samajwadi Party and is also peddling the fiction that the real electoral battle is between SP and BJP, and not BSP.

Meanwhile, all eyes are now on June 27 when the much awaited cabinet expansion in Uttar Pradesh government is likely to take place.

Whether Swami Prasad Maurya is part of it or not, it will rewrite several existing political equations in both SP and the BJP.