What’s in store for them now?

Jubilee News Desk

So what’s in store for the two Mauryas — deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Swami Prasad Maurya — the two big leaders who lost election but were key candidates in the BJP that won the elections and Samajwadi Party that also saw overall growth in number of seats and is the main opposition now.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya lost to Pallavi Patel, the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader who fought on an SP ticket, in Sirathu. Maurya lost by 7,337 votes. Sirathu, comes under the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Maurya, an important OBC face of the party, has been closely associated with the RSS. He won his first Assembly elections in 2012 and went on to become an MP from Phoolpur and a minister in the Union Cabinet.

Swami Prasad Maurya could not get ticket from Padrauna the seat he has been contesting and changed to Fajilnagar in Kushinagar on a SP ticket. The leader had switched from BJP recently and joined SP. He was a key face among turncoats and lost to Surendra Kumar Kushwaha of the BJP, the party Maurya left recently.

The two leaders will now look up to what decision their parties take for them. Particularly for Keshav Prasad Maurya who’s name was being taken up as the next Cm of UP after Yogi Adityanath.

Loosing election by just over 7000 votes could mean Keshav may be given some responsibility in the party but the race to CM’s chair might get slow.

Also sitting MLA and Sugarcane Minister Suresh Rana lost the elections to RLD’s Ashraf Ali in Thana Bhawan. The constituency, which has a mix of Jat, Gurjar and Muslim population, favoured the alliance candidate with a margin of more than 13,000 votes. Rana faced anti-incumbency sentiment while looking to repeat MLA term for the third time.