Former Uttar Pradesh MLA Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday resigned from the Samajwadi Party and the state legislative council. On February 13, Maurya had resigned as the party’s national general secretary.

Maurya cited ideological differences with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and other party members as the reason for his resignation, ANI reported.

“I believe in clean politics,” Maurya said on Tuesday. '“I saw Akhilesh Yadav, he is going against socialist ideology. I have the experience of working with Mulayam Singh Yadav as well. He was a staunch socialist leader.”

In a separate letter to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council chairperson on Tuesday, Maurya said, “As I have resigned from the primary membership of the party, I am also resigning as MLC [member of legislative council] on moral grounds.”

Maurya had stepped down as the Samajwadi Party’s national general secretary after accusing his party colleagues of failing to defend him over his recent statements on the Hindu epic poem Ramcharitmanas.

Maurya had alleged that parts of the poem contained objectionable language about Dalits, Adivasis and backward classes and called for them to be banned. The Uttar Pradesh Police subsequently booked him for the remarks on a complaint by Lucknow resident Shivendra Mishra.

On February 8, Maurya had cast aspersions on the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party, its parent organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Hindutva group Vishva Hindu Parishad of politicising the event.

In both instances, the Samajwadi Party distanced itself from Maurya’s remarks, saying that they were personal.

Maurya had joined the Samajwadi Party ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections. Prior to that, he was a Cabinet minister in Chief Minister Adityanath’s government.