The ‘holy’ offer from Akhilesh Yadav to Keshav Prasad Maurya to break from BJP

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday was caught attempting to break the BJP in Uttar Pradesh despite accusing the saffron party of breaking other parties to form the government.

Yadav took to X to post the monsoon offer apparently asking Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to bring 100 MLAs with him and make the government.

मानसून ऑफ़र: सौ लाओ, सरकार बनाओ!

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 18, 2024

The secular media and INDIA bloc parties found this move as a holy act by Yadav as they decided to maintain silence.

Yadav has apparently given this offer quite a few times in the past. An old video from a Press Conference show on ABP News is trending on X in which Yadav had given the same offer.

जानते हैं अभी कुछ दिन पहले हमारे नेता श्री अखिलेश यादव जी ने खुला आफर दिये थे भाजपा नेता केशव प्रसाद मौर्या जी को…।

“अगर आपको अपना सपना पूरा करना है,
100 विधायक तोड़ कर ले आएं,
समाजवादी पार्टी समर्थन कर देगी”

लेकिन इनके पास विधायक हैं ही नहीं….@yadavakhilesh @kpmaurya1 pic.twitter.com/P5Zzb5wDd5

— Raghvendra Yadav (@RaghvendrA2Y) July 15, 2024

Maurya's differences with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are widely acknowledged even within the BJP, and his comment at a state party meeting that "organisation is always bigger than government and no one can be bigger than the organisation" was seen by many political watchers as a message to the monk-politician.

He had made the remarks in the presence of Adityanath and Nadda, while the chief minister blamed "over-confidence" for the electoral reverses in the state and suggested that the party could not effectively counter the opposition INDIA bloc's campaign.

With the party's top brass speaking to Maurya and the state BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, considered a sober and objective voice, they seem to be taking steps to put their house in order against a resurgent opposition in the state, which has been critical to the BJP's rise as the dominant national force since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The deputy chief minister further stirred the pot on Wednesday by posting his "organisation is bigger than government..." comments from his office's handle. In private conversations, a number of BJP leaders from the state, including those who lost in the Lok Sabha polls, have been critical of the chief minister's working style and cited it as one of the reasons for their loss.

However, Adityanath is seen by his supporters as a popular chief minister who has aggressively pursued the party's Hindutva agenda and maintained a firm grip on law and order.