Dara Singh Chauhan became the second cabinet minister in 24 hours to quit ahead of the assembly polls.

LUCKNOW — In another jolt to the ruling BJP, UP minister Dara Singh Chauhan also submitted his resignation from the Yogi Adityanath government on Wednesday.

Chauhan, who held the Environment and Forest portfolio, is a former BSP MP who joined the BJP in 2015. He was elected from Mau and belongs to the OBCs.

His resignation comes a day after Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from the council of ministers.

On Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Labour Minister Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from the cabinet and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Four other MLAs in the state were said to have followed suit and quit the BJP.

In his terse resignation letter to the Governor, Chauhan said that the Yogi government had failed to address the aspirations of Dalits, OBCs and weaker sections of society and was apathetic towards the problems of the youth. He further said that the government was mishandling reservation for Dalits.

Chauhan’s resignation is yet another in the growing list of resignations in the UP BJP. So far, six MLAs, including Maurya, have stepped down from the party and if reports are to be believed, there are more in the line.

The ruling BJP suffered a major setback with the resignation of cabinet minister Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday followed by Dara Singh Chauhan on Wednesday as Assembly election are less than month away.

While the BJP officially refused to react to the development, a party functionary said that those leaders who knew that their performance was below average and could be denied ticket, are taking this step.