A day after resigning from Yogi Cabinet, arrest warrant has been issued against former Uttar Pradesh labour minister Swami Prasad Maurya in a seven year old hate speech case. The arrest warrant has been issued by MP-MLA court in Sultanpur where Maurya will now have to appear on January 24.
Maurya had tendered his resignation from Yogi Cabinet on Tuesday and is likely to join Samajwadi Party in a day or two. Another minister in UP Government Dara Singh Chauhan and few BJP legislator have also resigned in support of Maurya.
Warrant has been issued against Maurya in a case registered seven years ago for hurting the religious sentiment. At that time, he was in Bahujan Samaj Party and leader of opposition. Earlier Maurya had taken a stay against arrest in this matter in 2016 from the High Court. However, on January 6 this year during the hearing the MP-MLA court asked him to appear before it on January 12 failing which warrant was issued on Wednesday.
Meanwhile Maurya on Wednesday said that his resignation would show its impact on the results of 2022 assembly polls. He said that very soon dozens of legislators would leave BJP and join him.
