Less than a month to go for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and tensions are already running high in the poll-bound state. Three ministers of the Yogi Adityanath cabinet have quit in as many days. Speculation is rife that they could join hands with the Samajwadi Party.

The first to leave the BJP was Swami Prasad Maurya, an OBC leader who was serving as minister of labour, employment, coordination in the Yogi Adityanath government. His exit was followed by that of three other BJP MLAs – Roshanlal Verma, Brijesh Prajapati and Bhagwati Sagar.

A day after Maurya’s exit from the BJP and subsequent meeting with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, UP minister Dara Singh Chauhan resigned from the Yogi Adityanath government. BJP MLAs Mukesh Verma, Vinay Shakya, Bala Prasad Awasthi and Avtar Singh Bhadana also took the cue and resigned from primary membership of the party.

Next was Dharam Singh Saini, the UP minister who tendered his resignation on Thursday. Saini, who met Akhilesh Yadav the very same day, even went on to claim that “one minister and two-three MLAs will leave” the BJP each day till January 20.

BJP leaders who have quit the party in recent days:

Swami Prasad Maurya

A five-time MLA, Swami Prasad Maurya (68) had joined the BJP in the run-up to the 2017 UP Assembly polls. He won the last three elections from Padrauna in UP’s Kushinagar district on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.

Swami Prasad Maurya’s political career started with the Yuva Lok Dal in the 1980s and also involved a brief stint with the Janata Dal before he joined the BSP in 1996. Seen as a tall OBC leader, Maurya even served as a minister in former UP chief minister Mayawati’s government.

Interestingly, Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter Sanghmitra Maurya has been a BJP MP since 2019.

Roshanlal Verma

Roshanlal Verma (58) is a three-time BJP MLA from Tilhar in UP’s Shahjahanpur district. In the 2017 Assembly polls, Verma had defeated former Congress leader Jitin Prasada, who is now with the BJP.

Asked why he left the BJP, Roshanlal Verma told reporters, “The decision was not taken in a single day since I had joined the BJP to serve the poor but the party has neglected farmers, Dalits and those from backward classes.”

Brijesh Prajapati

Seen as a close confidante of Swami Prasad Maurya, Brijesh Kumar Prajapati (36) is the BJP MLA from Tindwari assembly constituency in UP’s Banda. He resigned from the primary membership of the BJP on Tuesday.

Prajapati is a law graduate who was elected to the UP Legislative 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 UP government’s “ignorance” towards members of backward castes, Dalits, Muslims and small traders compelled him to take the step.

Bhagwati Sharan Sagar

The BJP MLA from Billhaur in Kanpur Nagar district, Bhagwati Sagar (64) is a four-time MLA. 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 he was expelled from the party in 2012. He then decided to join the BJP.

Dara Singh Chauhan

Minister for Forests, Environment and Animal Husbandry in the UP government, Dara Singh Chauhan (59) started his political career with the BSP in 1996.

He later joined the Samajwadi Party and was elected to the Rajya Sabha as an SP candidate. Chauhan returned to the BSP ahead of the 2009 general elections and was even appointed leader of the BSP parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha.