Another UP minister Dara Singh Chauhan, has quit Yogi Adityanath's cabinet in Uttar Pradesh, continuing a flurry of exits that started with Swami Prasad Maurya's shock resignation yesterday. This is the second OBC (Other Backward Class) leader to quit team Yogi just before the Uttar Pradesh election next month, reports ndtv.com.
Chauhan, from eastern UP, was the minister for environment and forests and had joined the BJP in 2015, after quitting Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
"It cannot be that I say something on one day and then resign the next day. I hoped my voice would be heard sooner or later. But when things came to the point that no one was willing to listen to me, I had to resign," Chauhan told NDTV.
In a huge blow to the BJP as it seeks re-election in India's most politically vital state, two ministers and four MLAs have quit so far and are set to join the Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav who tweeted welcoming Chouhan though the latter hasn't announced his formal joining the Samajwadi Party.
Arrest warrant against Maurya
A local court on Wednesday in Sultanpur issued an arrest warrant against BJP MLA Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently resigned as cabinet minister, in a seven year old case.
The case was lodged against Maurya in 2014 for allegedly making objectionable comments against Hindu gods.
The MP-MLA court Judge Yogesh Kumar Yadav issued the warrant against him after he did not attend the court hearing on Wednesday.
In 2016, an arrest warrant was issued against him in the same case which was stayed by the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court.
Issuing the warrant, the Judge fixed January 24 as the next date of hearing.
The court had on January 6 directed Maurya to appear before it on January 12 but he did not appear, lawyer Anil Tiwari said.
Maurya, an influential OBC leader, had resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet on Tuesday.