Keshav Maurya and Akhilesh Yadav's heated exchange may affect UP's OBC politics, here's how
India Today
The heated war of words between dy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and Akhilesh Yadav could ignite OBC politics in the state and may even affect SP's future plans to form political allies.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Leader of the Opposition Akhilesh Yadav got into a heated debate on Wednesday, May 25, during an Assembly session. The matter escalated and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had to intervene. The incident grabbed the attention of leaders from both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP).
The incident in the Assembly will certainly have far-reaching political consequences and could ignite OBC politics between the two parties. But both the leaders clearly showed their priorities. This begs the question if it will affect SP's future plans to form political allies.
In UP, the Yadav vs Kurmi power politics is prominent and so it cannot be said that Akhilesh's statement will not make an impact. Political leaders are wondering if Akhilesh would have used the same attitude and language against Yogi Adityanath.
It could have been a heat of the moment thing for the former UP CM and it has happened before with other leaders. But it plays straight into BJP's narrative that if SP comes to power, it will give rise to 'hooliganism'.
The biggest antidote to this narrative was Akhilesh's gentle, decent and cheerful image. Akhilesh has been seen adopting that new attitude.
While, some say that Akhilesh's outburst could have been due to frustration of poll defeat in the recent UP assembly elections.
The BJP condemned Yadav for using abusive language over Maurya's statement in the assembly. Speaking to India Today, Keshav Prasad Maurya said that with this comment Akhilesh had not only hurt him personally but had also shown his frustration of losing the election against the BJP. He said that with this, the people have realised the misconduct, and the general way SP workers behave.
