Keshav Prasad Maurya – Central News Hub

Keshav Prasad Maurya : SP, BSP, Congress will be routed out

The Deputy Chief Minister said that as soon as his party wins the 2022 polls, it will start preparations for the 2024 general elections…writes Vivek Tripathi

The electoral battle for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh has already begun with all parties going all out with their poll preparations. The BJP government in the state has given the responsibility of repeating the 2017 state polls performance to Keshav Prasad Maurya, the Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader, who is working hard especially setting the caste equations right once again for the saffron party.

Keshav Prasad Maurya said that BJP is always ready for any election. He claims that the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress will be routed out when poll results will be declared on March 10. He is confident about the chances of BJP’s victory in the upcoming state Assembly polls. The Deputy Chief Minister said that as soon as his party wins the 2022 polls, it will start preparations for the 2024 general elections.

All opposition parties accuse the BJP of not fighting elections on the issue of development, but playing politics in the name of religion?

The BJP is fighting elections in the name of development. The SP is taking credit for the inauguration and foundation stone of various developmental projects that have been undertaken during the last five years of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, I challenge SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav to contest elections from the Assembly constituency where maximum development was done during his term as the CM.

“If there has been any Chief Minister who is the biggest obstacle to development in the country, it is Akhilesh Yadav. He has been the most unsuccessful Chief Minister till date. During his tenure, there were a lot of rioting incidents and the condition of Uttar Pradesh was in complete turmoil.”

CM Yogi Adityanath and you are also fighting elections, is the BJP not confident enough ?

Our political opponents are getting nervous because of us (Yogi and I) contesting the upcoming state elections. Yogi ji is fighting election from the Gorakhpur Assembly constituency. The party has given me an opportunity to fight election from my native land. “The way we (BJP) had secured a thumping majority in 2017, we will again come back to power in 2022 with an even bigger mandate.”

The BJP had given a slogan of 60 per cent votes out of 100 is ours. Now the SP has given a new slogan that 85 per cent votes of 100 is ours, there is division on the rest,

This is a clear attempt by the SP to copy the slogan given by the BJP. Those who imitate others must know that imitation requires intelligence. But the people belonging to the SP have mortgaged their intelligence to gangsters and rioters. The SP had already tried contesting election alone and even by forming pre-poll alliances with other parties in 2014, 2017 and 2019. In all the three elections, the people rejected the SP and voted in large numbers for the BJP.

Asked about the discontent among party workers on the ground level due to prominence being given to people joining the BJP from other parties?

Before 2014, the BJP had 50 MLAs and nearly 10 MPs in Uttar Pradesh. But the number of MPs increased from 10 to 73 in 2014. Similarly, in the 2017 state Assembly elections, we (BJP) secured 325 seats. Leaders from other parties want to join the BJP and are being welcomed here. There is no question of giving tickets to all the leaders who have joined the BJP from other parties.

Asked about religious polarisation due to the Muzaffarnagar riots in the upcoming elections,

The BJP always practices the politics of development. Who can forget the 700 riots in Uttar Pradesh? Who can forget those leaders from the SP involved in criminalizing of politics? How can it be forgotten that people had to migrate due to the fear of criminals in Kairana? Who can forget the ban on Kanwar yatra?

The BJP is fighting elections in the name of development and is confident of securing victory. “We will defeat those parties which vitiate the law and order situation in the state.”

The opposition says that the entire vote bank of OBCs is standing firm with them?

The Forward and Backward castes as well as Dalits are standing firmly with the BJP. The party is getting votes from every community. Of the 24 crore people in UP, more than 15 crore prefer to vote for the BJP. The issues raised by our party will become the basis of our victory. The SP and RLD have given tickets to criminals and mafia, that is why both the parties are taking time to announce their second list of candidates after releasing the first.

The BJP is giving tickets to those people you deserve it. Akhilesh Yadav is not able to handle his own family, how will he handle a state like Uttar Pradesh?

The BJP does not work for casteism, instead ours is a nationalist party. The nationalism of opposition parties is a hoax. This will be decided by the mood of the people . Right now this is just a trailer, the entire picture will be clear after 2022 polls when Uttar Pradesh will develop at a much faster pace.

Asked about Akhilesh’s statement to build Ram temple?

If Akhilesh Yadav’s government was in power today, thousands of karsevaks would have been killed by now. BJP’s history as a party has been to relinquish political power for Ram bhakts (devotees of Ram).

In response to another query, Maurya said that the SP, BSP and Congress are visible as a party only during the time of elections.

“They (opposition parties) have only one goal that is to contest elections and attain power by any means. When these parties are in power, they protect criminals, mafias and rioters. Our policy is that after coming to power, our priority is to reach the poor and the deprived sections of society.”

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Akhilesh is daydreaming, says UP Dy CM

The lotus will bloom again in the state and BJP will form the next government with a huge majority… Keshav Prasad Maurya speaks with Santosh Kumar Pathak.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has said that Samajwadi Party chief and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is day dreaming of coming to power in the state. He said that the BJP will again get more than 300 seats in the next Assembly polls in the state.

Here are excerpts of the interview:

You met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament House. What did you discuss with him?

I had requested a meeting with the Prime Minister, which he accepted. I had a pleasant meeting with him at his office in the Parliament House, got blessings and also some tips for the 2022 Assembly polls. Just like PM Modi again formed a government at the Centre in 2019, we will also do it in 2022.

Whether it is the poll preparations or other political programs in Varanasi, what is the message BJP is trying to give through the holy city?

Kashi is the city of Baba Vishwanath. As the PM had said, he was called by mother Ganga, the people of Kashi blessed him and chose him as their MP twice. Under his leadership, the country is progressing fast, Uttar Pradesh is also developing and Kashi too is also on the path of development. The development of Kashi should also be on religious and spiritual lines. We are proud that the grand corridor of Baba Vishwanath is ready in Kashi and the Prime Minister will dedicate this to the nation on December 13. This could be possible due to the double engine government, otherwise, the city would have fallen prey to appeasement politics.

You are claiming to form the government again in 2022, but so is the claim of Akhilesh Yadav?

Akhilesh Yadav is daydreaming. In 2017, he claimed to win more than 300 seats, but he was reduced to 47. In 2019, the ‘bua-babua’ (aunt-nephew) formed an alliance, but despite that, we won 64 Lok Sabha seats. The reality is — the return of SP, BSP or Congress is not possible in the state.

But this time Akhilesh Yadav is following the strategy of grand alliance on caste basis, as you did in 2017?

He has no answer to what he did to these castes when he came to power in 2012. If he had given importance to these people at that time, then surely they would have stood with him. Now only those leaders are going to him who have no mass base. People in the state are happy with the double engine government of Modi-Yogi and in 2022, like 2017, the BJP is going to form the government with more than 300 seats.

BSP chief Mayawati is also claiming that she will form the government.

Look, everyone is making claims, but they know the reality. Those who do not have workers left at the booth level also claim to win. Tell me, why should the public listen to her, why give her an opportunity? To gain the trust and confidence of the public, one has to work hard.

You are repeatedly talking about the double engine government, but in recent times, your statement about the leadership in UP has raised many questions.

In UP, the BJP is contesting the elections under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and will win the elections only under his leadership. The lotus will bloom again in the state and BJP will form the next government with a huge majority.

In 2022, on which issues are you going to the public to get the mandate again?

Good governance, development, law and order, curbing corruption, 24 hours electricity, network of roads, expressway… we have so many issues. In fact, the opposition is without issue, it has no issue at all.

But the opposition parties are targeting you even on the issue of law and order.

Today the law and order of the state is fine. Goons, criminals have either been eliminated or put behind bars. Now, no one has to migrate from UP out of fear of mafia or criminals. No one can dare to cause a riot. We are number one in terms of law and order. I appeal to the people of the state to once again give blessings to the BJP to form the government in 2022 because we want to take UP to even greater heights.

Recently your tweet about Mathura was the talk of the town.

I only meant to say that the way rapid development work is being done in Ayodhya and Kashi, similar work should also be done in Mathura too.

Finally, how many seats are you expecting this time?

As of now, elections have not been announced, but let me tell you right now that you can expect the same election results in 2022 as in 2017. We will form the government again with more than 300 seats in the state.

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