Keshav Prasad Maurya

Keshav Prasad Maurya (born 7 May 1969) is an Indian politician, currently serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Maurya was associated with a right-wing Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, before entering active politics through BJP.

He was also involved in cow protectionism in his early life.

Born in 1969, in Sirathu in Kausambhi district, adjoining Prayagraj, Maurya went on to study Hindi Literature at the Hindu Sahitya Sammelan in Prayagraj.

Besides being a politician, Maurya is also the owner of several institutions, which includes, a hospital, a petrol pump, an agro trading company and Kamdhenu Logistics.

His asset is spread across Allahabad.

Maurya has been associated with the RSS and the VHP-Bajrang Dal from an early age, holding the posts of Nagar Karyawah and VHP Pranth Sanghathan Mantri, among others.

While being active in the gauraksha (cow-protection) movements.

He also participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

In the BJP, Maurya has been the regional (Kashi) coordinator of the backward class cell and the BJP Kisan Morcha.

He has contested the 2002, 2007, and 2012 assembly elections, he lost the 2002 and 2007 elections but won in 2012, and was the sitting MLA from Sirathu assembly constituency before getting elected as MP from the Phulpur seat in 2014 with a thumping five lakh votes and over 52 percent votes.

He became the first MLA of the BJP from Sirathu Tahseel in the year 2012.

It was the first time any MLA of BJP was elected from Sirathu Tahseel.

And after two and a half years he became the MP from Phoolpur from BJP.

He got the ministries of the Public Works Department (PWD), food processing, entertainment tax, and public enterprises department.

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election Keshav Prasad Maurya contested from Sirathu seat in his home district Kaushambi and lost to Samajwadi Party candidate Pallavi Patel.

Maurya was appointed as state president of BJP for Uttar Pradesh, to consolidate the outreach of the party among Most Backward Castes.

Traditionally, the parties active in the state, like the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party had the support of Yadavs and Jatavs, hence, with the appointment of Maurya as its state chief, BJP tried to woo non-Yadav OBCs in the state.

On 8 April 2016, on the first day of Chaitra, he was appointed the Bharatiya Janata Party chief of Uttar Pradesh.

A member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he also participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

In April 2016, he was made the state president of BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

His tenure as BJP's state chief was also helpful in paving the way for the entry of another significant OBC leader, Swami Prasad Maurya in BJP, who also joined the party in 2016.

Before 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections, he was made state president of the BJP, and after the victory of BJP, he was appointed as Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in the first Yogi Adityanath Government.

Maurya again contested the legislative assembly elections in 2022 from Sirathu Assembly constituency, losing to Pallavi Patel of Samajwadi Party.

However, he was given a second term as Deputy CM in the second Yogi Adityanath government.

Under his leadership, the BJP registered a historic victory in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.

After the election results were out, he was considered a strong contender for the post of Chief Minister.

On 18 March 2017, he was appointed the deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Maurya worked to connect these social groups to the BJP, and with his efforts, the BJP was able to win 312 of the 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, in the 2017 legislative assembly elections.

After its win in the 2017 Assembly election, Maurya was increasingly projected as the OBC face of the party.

In his first tenure, Maurya remained critical of the politics of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party.

In 2019, during a rally, Mayawati urged Muslims to vote for the BSP-SP alliance.

This statement of hers was criticised by Maurya in a press briefing.

Maurya alleged that Mayawati had been using Dalits as a 'vote bank', and she had started appeasing Muslims.

He also said that Akhilesh Yadav is not loyal and Mayawati shouldn't believe him, pointing towards latter's tussle with Shivpal Singh Yadav.

In 2022, Akhilesh Yadav offered Keshav Maurya to cause a defection of hundred MLAs of BJP and join hands with Samajwadi Party.

He ensured that the Samajwadi Party would provide support to Maurya in such a condition, and help him become the Chief Minister, replacing Yogi Adityanath.

However, Maurya replied to Yadav that the latter should worry about their MLAs, as they can also defect towards BJP.

Political analysts recorded increased verbal attack by opposition leaders, specially Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Maurya, after his appointment as Deputy CM for his second term, right after losing his seat in 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.