Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, state minister Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday resigned from the state cabinet and joined hands with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP). Informing about his decision, Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi, “Due to the attitude of gross neglect towards Dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small and medium-sized traders, I am resigning from the council of ministers of Yogi (Adityanath) of UP.”

Yadav shared a photo of him with Maurya on Twitter, and welcomed him into the SP fold.  In his resignation letter addressed to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Maurya said, “I discharged my responsibilities as the minister for labour, employment, coordination in the council of ministers headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, despite adverse (‘vipreet’) circumstances and ideology.” Maurya, who hails from a backward caste, had joined the BJP before the 2017 assembly polls. He is the MLA from Padrauna.