BJP headed for one-sided win in Bihar as well: Keshav Prasad Maurya on 2024 Lok Sabha polls

Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was headed for one-sided victory in the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar apart from making a clean sweep by winning all 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 general election.

“Now the BJP is headed towards one-sided victory in Bihar also in the Lok Sabha polls, which would enable it form the government at the Centre for the third time in a row,” Keshav Prasad Maurya said at the event, “Road to 2024--In Conversation with HT” in Lucknow on Sunday.

“Thanks to the added mistake that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar (made), we will win Bihar also. Bihar is close to U.P. and I have been travelling to the state frequently. People are regretting Nitish Kumar deserting the BJP and joining hands with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Yuvraj--Tejashwi Yadav. Even Nitish Kumar must be ruing the decision he made. Look at Bihar, how it well it did with the BJP and how steeply it regressed after Nitish left the BJP alliance. Now, Bihar is worse than what U.P. was before 2017.”

On Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s allegation against the Election Commission about deletion of voters’ names, he said: “Akhileshji does say good things at times, but often he makes immature comments and statements.”

“He charged the EC with deleting the names of Muslims and Yadavs from voter lists in the U.P. assembly polls in 2022. Before making any allegations, he should have been sure of his facts and figures. Now when he will have to respond to the EC asking him to substantiate his claim, leave alone all the 403 UP assembly constituencies, he won’t be able to provide evidence for even five constituencies,” Keshav Prasad Maurya said.

On the Congress and why can’t India have a minority PM like Rishi Sunak who has become the UK PM, Maurya said, “To have a Prime Minister, a political party first will have to get a majority. I don’t think that Congress will be in such a position for the next 25 years at least.” “No point in any comparison of Sunak with India. It is a matter of great pride that an Indian-origin person has become the PM of the UK. At one time, it used to be said that the sun never set in the British empire. Also, Sunak’s becoming the UK PM is not an occasion to do a political slugfest.”

CASTE POLITICS

“Now, you will see “yaduvanshis (Yadavs)” and Muslims voting in great numbers for the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh,” Keshav Prasad Maurya said.

“There was a time when the BJP was known as the party of agadis (Hindu upper castes). Not anymore. Now, one mantra -- sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas – is being chanted. And this is what has been happening. You will see a large number of Muslims voting for the BJP, especially the Pasmanda Muslims. Dalits and backwards call the BJP “our party” now. The BJP has ended the politics of those who used to get riots organised and then do vote bank politics on it. No riots happen under BJP rule.”

AFTER AYODHYA AND KASHI...

Talking about Ram temple in Ayodhya, and Kashi, Keshav Prasad Maurya said: “Mathura ki bhi taiyari hai (there is preparedness for Mathura Shri Krishna Janmbhoomi) as well. I had been a soldier of the Ram temple movement. After a long struggle and Supreme Court judgment, the work on the Ram temple in Ayodhya is going on fast. Look, how things have changed in Ayodhya! Look, how the footfall of the visitors has gone up in Ayodhya! The same is true in Kashi now. They are generating so much employment and livelihood. We had promised the Ram temple and now worldwide the Ram Bhakts are happy.”