BJP in damage control mode after mass desertions in Uttar Pradesh

Stunned by mass desertions of its senior OBC leaders in Uttar, including state minister Swami Prasad Maurya, barely a month before the first phase of polling, BJP on Tuesday launched a damage control exercise and deputed its top leaders to talk to the 'sulking' MLAs and persuade Maruya to return to the party.

Soon after Maurya sent his resignation to the governor, UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya appealed to the Padrauna MLA to return to BJP. "Please don't take any decision in haste....let's talk and resolve the issues," Keshav Maurya said in a tweet.

Swami Prasad Maurya, however, hit back saying that the Deputy CM should have thought about resolving the issues through talks earlier. "Why did he not think about talking earlier...we had flagged several issues earlier also but nothing happened...they were ignored," he said.

Also Read | BJP jolted ahead of UP polls as key OBC minister quits, joins SP; more to follow

Sources said that the saffron party could witness an exodus of around a dozen MLAs and ministers, mostly from the OBC community, in the days to come.

"Resentment is brewing among the BJP legislators, especially those from the OBC and Dalit community.....many will leave the party ahead of the polls," claimed a leader close to Swami Prasad Maurya.

Apparently stung by the spate of resignations, which came as a surprise for many — even in the rival parties — the central BJP leadership had deputed Keshav Maurya and party functionary Sunil Bansal to reach out to the MLAs and ministers and resolve their issues.

Barely a few months back, several senior BJP MLAs and ministers had conveyed to the central leadership about their resentment against chief minister Yogi Adityanath's style of functioning. There were speculations that Adityanath could be replaced. The central leadership also tried to foist an ex-Gujarat cadre bureaucrat, who was considered to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but Adityanath put his foot down and virtually forced the leadership to continue with him.

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