Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Pratap Maurya claimed that 25 to 26 MPs of the Samajwadi Party were ready to defect but that the Bharatiya Janata Party was “not breaking” them away, PTI reported on Wednesday.
Maurya claimed that the Samajwadi Party MPs would “automatically break away” ahead of the Assembly elections in 2027. The state polls are expected to be held early next year.
“Samajwadi Party is not being run by Akhilesh Yadav,” Maurya said.
It was unclear when the claim was made. The Samajwadi Party has 37 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha.
On Wednesday, state minister and BJP ally Om Prakash Rajbhar claimed that a “major split is going to happen” in the Samajwadi Party.
He claimed that Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav had submitted a letter to BJP leader Amit Shah. Ram Gopal Yadav is the cousin of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.
“Everyone in Uttar Pradesh knows who the mastermind behind the mining scam and Gomti River Front scam is,” Rajbhar said on social media. “As the noose tightens, the SP is getting anxious.”
“Forget Maharashtra and Bengal – the entire SP is sitting ready to join the BJP,” he added.
Akhilesh Yadav had not commented on the claims made by Maurya. However, when asked by reporters on Wednesday about the claim made by Rajbhar, he said “…kab tak chalega yeh afsana [till when will this drama continue]”, ANI reported.
“BJP always engineers a split in parties by threatening and luring leaders,” PTI quoted him as having added. “You need a brave team to challenge the BJP. The Samajwadi Party is ready for the fight.”
He claimed that it was the BJP legislators who were ready to switch sides.
Uddhav Sena, TMC turmoil
The claims that Samajwadi Party MPs were willing to defect came as another Opposition party, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Wednesday alleged that its MPs were being offered Rs 15 crore each to join the rival faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Uddhav Sena leader Sanjay Raut initially said that reports of a breakaway group were “a lie” and stated that all MPs had recently “expressed faith” in party chief Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership.
However, Raut later alleged on social media that attempts were being made to induce MPs to switch sides. He claimed that the MPs were being offered Rs 50 crore to join rival parties, with Rs 15 crore being the “advance” payment.
Separately, Uddhav Sena MP Arvind Sawant wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urging him not to entertain any claims seeking recognition of a separate group or merger involving MPs elected on the party’s symbol.
This came three days after Trinamool Congress leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar on Sunday said that 20 of the party’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs will merge with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party and back the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lower House of Parliament.
The Lok Sabha speaker has asked TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee “to present his case” against the Dastidar-led factions decision on Friday, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday quoting unidentified persons aware of the matter.
Three of the TMC’s Rajya Sabha MPs resigned last week, and two of them quit the party amid internal divisions after it lost the West Bengal Assembly elections to the BJP in May.
At the state level, expelled Trinamool Congress MLA Ritabrata Banerjee claimed that a group of 58 of TMC’s 80 legislators had been recognised as the party’s legislature wing in the Assembly. The stand taken by the 58 MLAs is being viewed as a challenge to TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who is supporting another legislator as the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.
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