Another Cabinet Minister From BJP Resigns, 6 In Total: Will It Be A Setback?

A day after Swami Prasad Maurya's shocking resignation, another minister has chosen Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party over Yogi Adityanath ahead of elections in the state. Dara Singh Chauhan, the minister for environment and forests, became the second resignation from CM Yogi's Cabinet to call it quits within 24 hours. Chauhan had joined the BJP in 2015, after years in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and was then made the head of BJP's OBC Morcha- a plum position in the Party. He won a seat in the assembly elections of 2017 and earned himself a Ministerial seat.

'Hoped My Voice Would Be Heard Sooner Or Later'

In his resignation to the state governor Anandiben Patel, Chauhan wrote that the Yogi-led government had 'failed to address the aspirations of Dalits, OBCs and other weaker sections of the society, and was apathetic towards the youth'. He said, "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 said when asked why he was quitting just before the elections", NDTV reported.

Massive Blow To BJP's Leadership

BJP aims for a consecutive second victory in the state; however, the resignation of two Cabinet Ministers and four MLAs from the Party comes as a massive setback for the Party. Chauhan's resignation reflected almost the same language as Maurya's. Moreover, the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Mauryaput, tweeted Chauhan to reconsider his move. The exits are a massive blow for the BJP's OBC leadership against competition as fierce as Akhilesh Yadav. Before joining BJP, Chauhan was a member of the BSP, during which he has served as a Lok Sabha MP from 2009 to 2014 and Rajya Sabha MP in the 1990s.

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