The BJP’s Sanghamitra Maurya, who campaigned for her father Swami Prasad Maurya – a Samajwadi Party candidate – in the Uttar Pradesh polls, has defended her decision to back her father in the election. The decision to back her father was taken after he was “attacked” by BJP workers, Sanghamitra Maurya said, asserting that she will remain in the BJP.
“I am saying again that I was and will remain in BJP. My father was attacked so I came forward. I did not speak against the BJP, but its workers who riot. How can a daughter keep quiet when her father is attacked,” Sanghamitra Maurya, who is the BJP’s first-time MP from Budaun, told NDTV.
A former Uttar Pradesh minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, Swami Prasad Maurya had switched to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s camp along with four MLAs a month before the elections started in February.
However, his attempt to switch camp did not yield result and Mr Maurya was defeated by BJP candidate in Fazilnagar by more than 45,000 votes.
Earlier, in January, Sanghamitra Maurya had said that her father had not discussed the matter with her before making the move. But there is no pressure on her to quit the BJP either, added the 37-year-old, who defeated Samajwadi Party’s Dharmendra Yadav to win the seat in 2019.
