While prominent UP OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) Friday after resigning as minister from the Yogi Adityanath government, the political journey of his daughter Sanghmitra Maurya, BJP MP from Badaun, seems to have become more challenging now.
Maurya has been in the spotlight after emerging as the first UP minister who raised the banner of revolt against the ruling BJP. Joining the SP along with his son Utkrist, he vowed to work for ousting the saffron party in the upcoming UP Assembly elections.
With both her father and her brother now becoming the saffron party rebels, the 37-year-old Sanghmitra is now bracing to face some political turbulence in the rough and tumble of UP politics, even as she has decided to continue as BJP MP.
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Following in her father’s footsteps, Sanghmitra had joined politics several years ago, leaving her professional career as an MBBS doctor. She had been initially with the BSP along with her father and brother.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Sanghmitra had contested on the BSP ticket against SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav in the Mainpuri constituency and lost the polls.
She had joined Maurya and Utkrist when they switched from the BSP to the BJP in 2016.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, far from the strongholds of her father in eastern UP, Sanghmitra contested the election as a BJP candidate from Badaun, a traditional SP stronghold, and won the seat by defeating Dharmendea Yadav, a cousin of Akhilesh Yadav.
During the monsoon session of Parliament last year, Sanghmitra had made waves by raising the demand for a caste-based census, putting the ruling BJP in a spot.
In the wake of defection of Maurya and Utkrist from the BJP, Sanghmitra admits the road ahead for her would be difficult as the BJP rank and file would continue to target them and rake up their rebellion. She, however, maintains she will continue to fulfil her responsibilities as a BJP MP.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Sanghmitra said, “You face troubles everywhere. I know how to face them. I know how to struggle.”
Maurya’s move might ensure an SP ticket for Utkrist, who had lost two previous Assembly polls from the Unchahar constituency to the SP. “It is up to the SP leadership to give him (Utkrist) a ticket and even if he is not, I am sure he would work with dedication. I might not be able to support him politically but would back him as his sister,” said Sanghmitra, who follows Buddhism. She added, “Party alag hai, party ki baat party mein. Pariwar apni jagah. (Party politics and family are two separate things).” Full report on