More trouble for BJP: Another UP minister quits Adityanath’s cabinet days before assembly elections

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 12

A day after four BJP MLAs, including state minister Swami Prasad Maurya, resigned from the cabinet of Adityanath, the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh received another big jolt with another state minister, Dara Singh Chauhan, giving his resigning.

Chauhan, who used almost the same language as Maurya in his resignation letter, said he was resigning because OBCs and backward, on the basis of which the BJP rode to power, did not receive anything in the past five years.

Chauhan said he kept raising the voice of jobless young people, backward classes, and Dalits but the BJP leadership did not pay heed. Chauhan, who belongs to the Rajput community, said he would take the next step on the basis of his samaj‘s wishes.

Soon after, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya tweeted asking Chauhan to reconsider his decision before boarding a “sinking boat”.

While Chauhan did not reveal his next move, sources say he and other BJP MLAs who have resigned will join the Akhilesh Yadav- led SP around January 14 or 15.

Apparently, around 12 to 14 more MLAs, including ministers, are expected to resign over the next couple of days.

Chauhan was the forest and environment minister in the Uttar Pradesh government.

In a major setback to the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, top OBC leader, and state minister Swami Prasad Maurya yesterday resigned alleging “grave oppression of Dalits, OBCs, farmers, unemployed and small businessmen” under Adityanath.

Three more MLAs, Roshan Lal Verma (Shahjahanpur), Brijesh Prajapati (Tindwari), and Bhagwati Sagar (Bilhaur) soon followed suit and quit the party.