The Samajwadi Party has fielded former BJP leader and minister Swami Prasad Maurya from Fazilnagar seat in Kushinagar district for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Maurya won polls from the Padrauna seat thrice.
A prominent OBC leader, Swami Prasad Maurya had joined the BJP before the 2017 assembly polls after leaving the BSP. He is a sitting MLA from Padrauna. He quit the BJP recently and joined the Samajwadi Party. The SP is hopeful that Maurya's entry will strengthen its influence among the non-Yadav OBCs in the state.
If reports are to be believed, the SP decided to shift Maurya from Padrauna to Fazilnagar amidst talks of BJP fielding RPN Singh who is a descendent of the royal family of Sainthwar of Kushinagar. Singh, who joined the BJP after resigning from the Congress, was an MLA from Padrauna between 1996 to 2007, whereafter he was elected as the MP from Kushi Nagar and served as the Minister of State for Home Affairs. He lost parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2019.
It is worth mentioning here that following RPN Singh's exit from Congress, Manish Jaiswal, the declared candidate of Congress from the Padrauna seat also resigned from the primary membership of the grand old party.
The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases, starting from February 10 and ending on March 7. Counting is slated for March 10.
READ MORE: BJP ends suspense over Lucknow Cantt seat; Aparna Yadav, Rita Bahuguna's son left out
