Another Yogi government minister praises Mayawati

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath continued to be embarrassed by his own ministers and legislators of the BJP and its alliance partners.

After Om Prakash Rajbhar, a minister from one of the BJP alliance partners— Suheldev Bharat Samaj Party (SBSP), senior minister Swami Prasad Maurya embarrassed Adityanath by heaping praise on the party's arch-rival and BSP supremo Mayawati.

''Mayawati's regime was better than the Samajwadi Party's regime... Mayawatiji was a strict administrator... the bureaucracy always followed her directives,'' Maurya said while speaking to a private TV channel on Tuesday.

Maurya, who had quit the BSP a few days before the 2017 Assembly polls in the state, said that the bureaucracy, now, did not follow the orders from the ministers.

Stung by Maurya's praise on Mayawati, the state BJP leadership sought an explanation from him, sources said.

BJP leaders were said to be furious with him.

Remarks twisted

Maurya on Wednesday made a U-turn and said that his remarks were twisted by the media.

Sources close to Maurya, however, said that the remarks reflected his ''unease'' and showed that he was very upset at being ignored by the officials.

Maurya's remarks also assume added significance as his son-in-law had recently joined the Samajwadi Party with his ''blessings'', sources said.

Several other BJP and alliance partners' legislators had also publicly criticised Adityanath after the BJP's humiliating defeat in the Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha by-polls.