Express News Service
LUCKNOW: A member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council since 2017, state Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya is also Rural Development minister.
Defeated from his birthplace Sirathu in Kaushambi district in February-March polls by Samajwadi Party’s Pallavi Patel, the sister of BJP ally Anupriya Patel, Maurya believes he would soon find out the reasons for his defeat.
His analysis says Mayawati’s BSP and Congress “surrendered” their stakes to the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party. BJP was confident of winning 300-plus seats in the Assembly polls. It failed to touch that target…
There were many things at play in the Opposition camp during the elections. We were confident of winning more than 325 seats. However, we did not expect the Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress to surrender their stakes in favour of the Samajwadi Party in a tacit understanding. However, we have increased our vote share.
On the contrary, Samajwadi Party accuses BSP of having transferred its votes to the saffron camp?
It is all to misguide the people. They already had an understanding among themselves.
You have headed the PWD department in your previous tenure. Do you find rural development more challenging than PWD?
If you have the dedication to fulfil your responsibility, then the challenge is not there. I always work with dedication. With the same spirit, I fulfilled my responsibilities in PWD during my first tenure. With same dedication, I shall fulfil all my responsibilities in the rural development department to bring about a positive change. I shall walk an extra mile to do better than my last stint. I am grateful to the party to accept my request and entrust me with the responsibility of the rural development department.
After the high-profile PWD, why did you prefer the portfolio of rural development?
Keeping in mind my ideology, values and my background, I wanted to work for rural development and the party accepted my request.
All the ministers in Yogi cabinet 2.0 have been asked to draw a roadmap to set targets for first 100 days followed by six months, one year and so on and so forth. What is the agenda of your department for the first 100 days?
We are ready with the roadmap to meet the targets as per the priorities. Not only my department, but other departments also are ready with their respective agenda not only for 100 days but also six months, one year and the rest of the tenure. We all have given presentations to the state cabinet about our preferences and priorities.
Our 100-day roadmap comprises the ongoing schemes and rest are pertaining to the promises made in our ‘sankalp patra’ at the time of elections. We have already started efforts to meet the 100-day target and the preparations are on to implement the six months’ roadmap. This consecution of efforts is going to continue and gain further pace till we achieve our targets with honesty and dedication.
What are your department’s priorities for 100 days?
Besides the fulfilment of the promises which we made regarding rural development in our sankalp patra, the vision of establishing smart villages on the lines of smart cities. Our priority is to develop more and more smart villages equipped with all the basic and modern amenities. Though it needs a huge budget, but I think we will be able to achieve this with the existing resources.
Moreover, I am hopeful that we will get full support in this endeavour from the newly-elected village heads who are literate enough to realize its importance. Some of them are management graduates, some are engineers, some have left a well-paid job in the government sector to return and do something constructive for the development of their village.
With the integrated efforts of the rural development department, Agriculture department and village heads, we have plans to improve the rural economy. Similarly, we have the priority to take the villages ahead in terms of the development of health infrastructure and also provide adequate sport facilities to hone the skills of our upcoming talent on the field further.
How do you plan to make the benefits of the welfare schemes reach the person standing on the last rung of society in rural Uttar Pradesh?
We have been working hard to give relief to all the sections through the welfare schemes. It is imperative to achieve this target more vigorously now and I can say with full responsibility and confidence that the rural development department is the perfect platform to execute the plans for the uplift of the poor.
The UP government has been under attack over unemployment. Youngsters usually migrate from rural areas to cities in search of jobs. Do you have any roadmap to stop this migration of rural youth to urban areas?
Yes. In order to provide jobs to talented and educated youth in rural areas, we are in the process of setting up food processing units as I have the food processing department also. One unit proves jobs to many. Moreover, we have set up around 5 lakh self-help groups (SHGs) of women who produce a variety of products in the villages.
We help them provide market for the sale of those products. Moreover, we have the target of taking the number of SHGs to 10 lakh. We have to ensure that we provide the women of these SHGs with enough means to improve the quality of their products and a better market to sell them.
This will lead the rural economy to look up along with the empowerment of women and youth. Under MNREGA, the women are getting more remuneration than their male counterparts.
Even the limit of 100 mandays is not applicable to woman mates. Bank sakhis, vidyut sakhis, mates for the upkeep of community toilets, and even the license of PDS shops are being awarded to women folk who are performing much better than men. This is a big step in direction of women’s empowerment.
Do you think that the motive of Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna, introduced in 2014, under which the parliamentarians are supposed to adopt villages to make them model villages equipped with all the facilities?
Many MPs adopted villages and worked for the development of those villages but still a lot of scope for making them model villages is there.
With the upcoming 2024 general elections, what would be the strategy of the party in UP which sends maximum parliamentarians to Lok Sabha?
We have got the double engine government through which we are serving the people of the state with full responsibility. People are also accepting our ideology.
On the basis of the performance of our government in the state and the guidance of Modiji, we are confident of winning 75 plus seats in 2024 and the BJP will again form the government at the centre under the leadership of PM Modi. I am saying this as I am aware of the ground reality.
BJP was confident in 2022 assembly elections of winning 300 plus seats but it failed to touch that target?
There were a lot many things at play in the opposition camp during the elections. We were confident of winning seats more than 325, out previous figure and going beyond it. We even increased our vote share.
But we had not expected the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress to surrender their stakes in favour of the Samajwadi Party under a tacit understanding with it. Consequently, we could not touch the figure of 325.
On the contrary, SP accuses BSP of having transferred its votes to the BJP?
It is all to misguide the people. They had a tacit understanding in which the SP and Congress surrendered their vote bank in favour of SP.
Your defeat in Sirathu came as the biggest reverse for the BJP in UP. As per your assessment, what were the reasons for your defeat?
In elections, victory and defeat are part of the game. The bottom line is that we have won the state. We are analyzing the factors which might have played a role in my defeat. I think, within a month’s time, we will be out with a report on the basis of which we will make the constituency a permanent stronghold of the BJP.
