Lucknow: Voting for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh is going to start from next month. Earlier, there was a stampede in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp. Three ministers of Yogi Adityanath cabinet have resigned. There are speculations that he may join hands with the Samajwadi Party. However, he has publicly praised Akhilesh Yadav.
The first OBC leader to leave the BJP was Swami Prasad Maurya , who served as the Minister of Labour, Employment, Coordination in the Yogi Adityanath government. After his exit, three other BJP MLAs Roshanlal Verma, Brijesh Prajapati and Bhagwati Sagar also tendered their resignations. All these leaders come from non-Yadav OBC community.
A day after Maurya’s exit from the BJP and subsequent meeting with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, UP minister Dara Singh Chouhan resigned from the Yogi Adityanath government. BJP MLAs Mukesh Verma, Vinay Shakya, Bala Prasad Awasthi and Avtar Singh Bhadana also resigned from the primary membership of the party.
After this, the name of UP minister Dharam Singh Saini appeared among the ministers who resigned. He tendered his resignation on Thursday. Saini, who met Akhilesh Yadav on the same day, even claimed that “one minister and two-three MLAs will leave the BJP” every day till January 20.
BJP leaders who left the party in recent times:
Swami Prasad Maurya
A five-time MLA, Swami Prasad Maurya had joined the BJP before the 2017 UP assembly elections. He has won the last three elections on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket from Padrauna in Kushinagar district of UP. Swami Prasad Maurya’s political career began in the 1980s with the Yuva Lok Dal. He also briefly worked with the Janata Dal before joining the BSP in 1996. His image in UP politics is as a strong non-Yadav OBC leader. Maurya also worked as a minister with former UP Chief Minister Mayawati. Interestingly, Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter Sanghamitra Maurya is a BJP MP from 2019.
Roshanlal Verma
Roshanlal Verma is a three-time BJP MLA from Tilhar in Shahjahanpur district of UP. In the 2017 assembly elections, Verma defeated former Congress leader Jitin Prasada, who is now with the BJP. Asked why he left the BJP, Roshanlal Verma said, “This decision was not taken in a day, as I had joined the BJP to serve the poor. The party has neglected farmers, Dalits and people from backward classes.”
Brijesh Kumar Prajapati, seen as close to Brijesh Prajapati Swami Prasad Maurya, is a BJP MLA from Tindwari assembly constituency in UP’s Banda. He resigned from the primary membership of the BJP on Tuesday. Prajapati is knowledgeable in law. He was elected to the UP Assembly for the first time in 2017 on a BJP ticket. He has also served as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Backward Commission between 2010 and 2012. In a letter to party chief JP Nadda, Brijesh Kumar Prajapati wrote that the “ignorance” of the UP government towards backward castes, Dalits, Muslims and small traders forced him to take this step.
Bhagwati Sharan Sagar
BJP MLA from Bilhaur in Kanpur Nagar district, Bhagwati Sagar has been MLA four times. He was elected to the UP Legislative Assembly from Bhognipur in 1993, Bilhaur in 1996 and Mauranipur in 2007. Sagar was with the BSP before being expelled from the party in 2012. After that he decided to join BJP.
Dara Singh Chouhan
Forest, Environment and Animal Husbandry Minister Dara Singh Chouhan started his political career with BSP in 1996. He later joined the Samajwadi Party and was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a SP candidate. Chouhan returned to the BSP ahead of the 2009 general elections and was also appointed the leader of the BSP parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha. Dara Singh Chouhan joined the BJP in 2015 and was appointed the national president of the party’s OBC Morcha. He contested the 2017 UP Assembly elections from Madhuban constituency of Mau district and won by a comfortable margin.
Mukesh Verma
Mukesh Verma became an MLA for the first time in 2017 on a BJP ticket. Verma represents the Shikohabad Assembly constituency in Firozabad district. Verma, a doctor by profession, belongs to the Nishad community.
Vinay Shakya
First time BJP MLA from Bidhuna assembly constituency of Auraiya district of UP has announced his decision to join Samajwadi Party. After submitting her resignation to BJP President JP Nadda, Sakya’s daughter posted a video on social media claiming that her father was “kidnapped”. The MLA later told reporters that his daughter’s claim was false.
Bala Prasad Awasthi
Bala Prasad Awasthi is a three-time MLA. He contested the 2017 UP elections from Dhaurahara in Lakhimpur district on a BJP ticket. Before joining the BJP, Awasthi was a BSP MLA from the Mohammadi assembly constituency.
Avtar Singh Bhadana
BJP MLA from Meerapur assembly constituency of Muzaffarnagar district of UP, has joined Jayant Choudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, an ally of the Samajwadi Party. Bhadana is a Gujjar leader who joined BJP in 2016. During his time with the Congress, Avtar Singh Bhadana was elected to the Lok Sabha four times, representing Meerut in UP and Faridabad in Haryana.
Dharam Singh Saini
Another minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, Dharam Singh Saini is a four-time MLA from Nakur in UP’s Saharanpur district. Saini was in the BSP before joining the BJP in 2016.
