LUCKNOW: Former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Dara Singh Chauhan, who recently quit the state council of ministers, is likely to join the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Sunday.
Chauhan, a resident of Azamgarh, is the sitting MLA from Madhuban Assembly seat in Mau district.
Sources close to him told PTI on Friday that the ex-minister is likely to join the SP on January 16.
Chauhan did not attend a Samajwadi Party event on Friday.
A source said, "It was already decided in advance that Chauhan will join the SP on January 16, and hence he did not turn up today."
Roshanlal Verma, a former BJP MLA from Tilhar in Shahjahanpur told PTI, "As a part of the strategy, Dara Singh Chauhan will be joining the SP in the next couple of days. There will be a big blast."
On Wednesday, Chauhan quit the Yogi Adityanath cabinet, giving a jolt to the BJP in the poll-bound state.
He was the second minister to resign from the state cabinet after Swami Prasad Maurya tendered his resignation on Tuesday.
Chauhan held the Forest and Environment portfolio.
"Dalits, those backwards and deprived did not get justice in the present government. That's why I'm quitting the cabinet," he had told reporters.
Maurya, a prominent OBC leader, joined the Samajwadi Party along with another rebel minister Dharam Singh Saini on Friday.
Five BJP MLAs and Apna Dal (Sonelal) leader Amar Singh Chaudhary, who is an MLA from Shohratgarh, also joined the SP in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The other BJP MLAs who joined the Samajwadi Party are Bhagwati Sagar (Bilhaur in Kanpur), Roshanlal Verma, Vinay Shakya (Bidhuna in Auraiya), Brijesh Prajapati (Tindwari in Bahraich) and Mukesh Verma (Shikohabad in Firozabad).
They were given SP membership at its office here.