Swami Prasad Maurya | Credit: ANINew Delhi: Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who lost the assembly polls from Fazilnagar, said that snake and cobra joined hands to ensure that the mongoose didn’t win. His remarks were seen aimed at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Maurya claimed that the mongoose always wins in fights with the snake and reiterated that he was the mongoose and his rivals were snakes in the recently held Assembly polls in which he lost from the Fazilnagar seat.‘Mongoose is always superior to a snake’ Maurya had switched allegiance on the poll eve to join the Samajwadi Party. He was a BJP MLA and a minister in the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet in the state. In 2016, while being the national general secretary of the BSP he had joined the BJP in the run-up to the 2017 Assembly elections in UP. Speaking to ANI today, Maurya said, “Mongoose is always superior to a snake. It is a different matter that both the snake and the cobra together did not let the mongoose win.” He further said that the issues because of which he had left the BJP are still relevant today. I was not able to take those issues to the people and I am happy that the support base of the Samajwadi Party has expanded, he added.‘Samajwadi Party has emerged as a big force in UP’ Expressing happiness over SP’s performance, he said that his party has emerged as a big force in the state and the campaign will continue to make the SP a bigger force. After joining SP, Swami Prasad Maurya had said he won’t give up until the BJP is wiped out from Uttar Pradesh. Targeting the BJP, he equated RSS to cobra, the BJP to a snake and himself a mongoose who won’t give up until they are wiped out from UP. The BJP registered historic victory in Uttar Pradesh by winning 255 out of 403 constituencies, securing a 41.29 per cent vote share in the state. This is for the first time in 37 years that a party has been able to retain power in Uttar Pradesh after completing a full term. Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party bagged 111 seats and got 32.06 per cent votes.