NEW DELHI: Barely three days after resigning from the Samajwadi Party, Swami Prasad Maurya launched a new political party, Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party, on Thursday. The party was announced at an event at the Talkatora Stadium in the national capital Delhi. On the occasion, a large number of supporters of Swami Prasad Maurya together pledged to raise their voices for the Dalits and backward people.
Speaking on the occasion, Maurya said, ”We will strengthen the INDI alliance to remove BJP. We will talk to their leaders. To make sure that BJP is defeated, I am ready to make all sacrifices if needed.”
Former Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya launches ‘Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party’ in Delhi
“We will strengthen the INDI alliance to remove BJP. We will talk to their leaders. To make sure that BJP is defeated, I am ready to make all sacrifices if needed.” pic.twitter.com/3C9jkYnUXh
— ANI (@ANI) February 22, 2024
It may be noted that the senior Uttar Pradesh leader resigned from Samajwadi Party membership and the post of MLC on February 20 accusing the party of discrimination.
Maurya’s move is being linked to the Lok Sabha elections. According to political experts, he has the potential to inflict the biggest loss on the Samajwadi Party politically.
Although the Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party, a party led by Dalit and OBC leaders, was formed in 2013 by Saheb Singh Dhangar in Aligarh, it failed to leave its mark in electoral politics. With Maurya taking charge, the party is expected to be revived and could even put up a challenge to Akhilesh Yadav in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Maurya, in his resignation letters, one addressed to the Chairman of the State Legislative Council and another to the Samajwadi Party chief, Akhilesh Yadav, said that he has resigned from the membership of the Legislative Council on moral grounds.
“I have been elected as a member of the Legislative Council, Uttar Pradesh from the Assembly, Uttar Pradesh constituency, as a candidate of the Samajwadi Party. Since I have resigned from the primary membership of the Samajwadi Party, hence on the basis of morality, I am also resigning from the membership of the Legislative Council, Uttar Pradesh. Please kindly accept,” he said in a letter to the Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.
Reacting to his resignation, Dimple Yadav mentioned that the party has supported him a lot since he joined and also asserted that the party respects him a lot. “I believe during the elections he joined the party but he could not win the polls. Despite that, the party made him MLC and sent him to the Legislative Assembly. Party has always respected him,” Dimple said.
SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav also said that he is unaware as to why Maurya took this decision adding that it is a matter of his “conscience.”
Before the 2017 elections, Swamy switched sides and joined the BJP. He was made a cabinet minister when the party formed its government under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath. However, after just five years of his stint with the BJP, he was disillusioned with the saffron party and joined the SP before the 2022 elections.