After dealing a blow to Akhilesh Yadav by resigning from the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday, veteran OBC leader from Uttar Pradesh Swami Prasad Maurya said that the party president was moving away from the socialist ideology. Maurya said that he and Akhilesh Yadav differed on ideology and he was not disgruntled regarding any other issue.
"Akhilesh Yadav is going against the socialist ideology...I will meet the workers in a program at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi on February 22. After the talks, I will also announce my decision to form a party," Maurya said. He further said that Akhilesh Yadav was not being able to run the party on the ideology of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. "I shall keep working on the path shown by Kansh Ram. He said he will formally announce a new party in Delhi during the event.
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Former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from his Legislative Council seat as well. While resigning from SP, Maurya sent a letter to Akhilesh Yadav. In the letter he wrote: "I got an opportunity to work in a cordial environment under your leadership. But as a result of not taking any initiative on the talks held on February 12 and the letter sent on February 13, I am resigning as a primary member of the Samajwadi Party."
In another letter intimating the resignation from the MLC post, Maurya wrote: "Since I have resigned from the primary membership of the Samajwadi Party, I am also resigning from the membership of the Legislative Council, Uttar Pradesh. Kindly accept my resignation."
The resignation of Maurya, a strong OBC face, is likely to hurt Akhilesh Yadav's chances in the Lok Sabha polls. It is still unclear whether Maurya's new outfit would contest the Lok Sabha polls due this year.