Lucknow (UP):In a big jolt to the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government, five BJP leaders have left the party today. BJP leader and state labour minister Swami Prasad Maurya was the first to resign, and he is likely to join the opposition Samajwadi Party. Hours later, four more MLAs, Roshan Lal Verma, Brijesh Prajapati, Vinay Shakya and Bhagwati Sagar also resigned from Banda's Tindwari seat.
"Despite differences in ideologies, I have dedicatedly served the Yogi Adityanath cabinet so far. However, I hereby resign as the Minister of labour, employment and coordination in the Yogi Adityanath led UP cabinet, due to the party's negligent attitude towards Dalits, backward classes, farmers, unemployed youth, small and medium businessmen," the minister stated in his resignation letter addressed to Governor Anandiben Patel.
While talking to ETV Bharat, Maurya said that he has made this decision after a thorough thought into the matter. "Decisions like these are taken after a well-informed and long thought. I will also make all the further decisions after a thorough consultation with my close allies over the next two days. The media will be informed about my final decision in a couple of days," he said.
The predictions of several other BJP MLAs including ministers Dara Singh Chauhan, Dharam Singh Saini and Nand Gopal Gupta joining the Samajwadi Party are quite rife in the UP political circle after these resignations.
According to the information received, the BJP high command is trying to convince the MLAs who have resigned. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reportedly assigned Swatantra Dev and Sunil Bansal the responsibility of persuading these leaders. UP Deputy CM Keshav Maurya had also reached out to these leaders initially when they declared their resignations. However, Maurya has reportedly straightaway refused to accept any of the party's requests. He had interestingly clarified his differences with the party authorities around a year ago also.