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UP elections 2022: Dharam Singh Dhani quits Yogi cabinet. Then comes his photo with Akhilesh
Dharam Singh Saini became the third minister to resign from the Yogi Cabinet just ahead of the high-octane elections following Dara Singh Chauhan and Swami Prasad Maurya.
The jolt to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh continues with Ayush minister Dharam Singh Saini resigning from the Yogi Cabinet on Thursday. Dalit leader, four-time MLA from the Nakud assembly, sent his resignation to the UP governor and then, according to the sequence of the previous big-ticket switchover, Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted a photo with Saini like he did with Maurya and Dara Singh Chauhan, posing in front of cabinets full of books.
Dharam Singh Saini became the third minister to resign from the Yogi Cabinet just ahead of the high-octane elections following Dara Singh Chauhan and Swami Prasad Maurya.
When Maurya left the party, Saini said he was aware that his name was on the list of MLAs that Maurya presented and claimed that these MLAs would be leaving the BJP, but asserted that he will not leave the party.
Meanwhile, the exodus of the MLAs from the BJP continues with Mukesh Verma, Vinay Shakya, Roshan Lal Varma, Brajesh Prajapati, Bhagwati Sagar, Dara Singh Chauhan, Avtar Singh Bhadana having already resigned from the party after Maurya left the BJP.
"Since the voices of the backward classes, Dalits, unemployed youth, traders of medium and small scale industries and shopkeepers among others are being ignored, I am resigning from the primary membership of the party," Mukesh Verma, who resigned from the party early on Thursday, stated in a letter to BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh. He said he will continue the 'fight for justice' under Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader Swami Prasad Maurya.
The loss of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is likely to be the gain for Akhilesh as Maurya said he will be joining teh Samajwadi Party on January 14. "I will be joining the Samajwadi Party on 14th January. I have not received calls from any small or big politician. If they were cautious on time and worked on public issues, then BJP would not have faced this. Whether the BJP leaders are big or small in power and position, it doesn't matter to me as the arrow has come out of the bow. Now, there is no question of returning," Maurya said.
OBC leader Om Prakash Rajbhar on Wednesday claimed that one to two ministers would quit the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet daily and this figure would go up to 18 by January 20. "I had realised BJP's apathy towards Dalits, backwards and the deprived sections of the society in a short time after joining the government in 2017 but these people waited all these days and, left with no hope, are quitting it now," the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief said.
