UP Polls: 4 More BJP Leaders to Quit on Thursday, Says NCP Chief

Taking a dig at BJP, Sharad Pawar said that not a single day passes when a BJP leader does not leave the party.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Image used for representative purposes. 

(Photo: PTI)

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has said that he has come to know that four more Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs will be leaving the party on Thursday, 13 January.

"Not a single day passes when a BJP leader does not leave the party. Take UP, for example, 13 MLAs are leaving BJP to join another party. I have come to know that 4 BJP MLAs are leaving it today itself."

Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party chief

Mass Exodus of BJP leaders

Pawar's statement came following the resignation of BJP leader and Minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, Dharam Singh Saini, on Thursday, days after he dismissed rumours of him switching to the Samajwadi Party (SP).

In his resignation letter, Saini wrote that he was quitting due to the treatment meted out to backward and minority communities, farmers, educated unemployed youth, and small business persons.

Furthermore, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Mukesh Verma from Shikohabad also quit the party on Thursday.

So far, Cabinet Minister Swami Prasad Maurya along with several MLAs, and Forest Minister Dara Singh Chouhan, have resigned.

According to news agency ANI, Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday, 11 January, "In Uttar Pradesh, we are going to contest elections with Samajwadi Party and other smaller parties."

Commenting on the upcoming elections in the state, NCP leader and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik said on Thursday, “We've decided to contest elections with Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. One seat has been announced and talks are on for other seats. We will support the alliance, which is forming in UP.”