Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Saturday met BJP workers and office bearers at the Circuit House here before departing for Lucknow. Maurya arrived in Sangam city on Friday to attend the Nari Shakti Vandan Sammelan.
Interacting with party workers, he said that by voting against the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Act, 2023 in the Lok Sabha, the Congress and Samajwadi Party made it clear that they did not support women’s reservation in Parliament and state assemblies.
He said these parties were influenced by a “male-dominated mindset” and did not favour equal participation of women in national development. In contrast, he said, the BJP remained firmly committed to women’s reservation and would ensure its implementation.
Maurya further said public anger, particularly among women, would prove costly for what he described as “anti-women” parties in the coming years. He claimed that parties such as the SP, Congress, TMC and DMK had opposed the women’s reservation bill. The deputy CM noted that women MPs from the SP and the Congress had opposed the bill, calling the opposition’s stance an “insult to women waiting for their rights for decades.”
He asserted that women voters would hold these parties accountable in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. “The SP will be wiped out in Uttar Pradesh in 2027, and Congress will be reduced by half in 2029,” Maurya said.
He said the opposition parties should understand the political consequences of opposing women’s rights, stating that their expectations of electoral success were “mere dreams” that would not be realised.
On the soon-to-be-held by-election in Ward 48, Alopibagh in Prayagraj, the deputy CM directed party workers to put in full effort and highlight to women voters that the SP and Congress had opposed the women’s reservation bill.
Several BJP leaders were present during the meeting. They included party’s city unit president Sanjay Gupta, trans-Ganga president Nirmala Paswan and trans-Yamuna president Rajesh Shukla.
