Lucknow: Following the footsteps of three leaders that quit the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ahead of the forthcoming state assembly elections, BSP's national secretary Paramdev Yadav also resigned on Sunday. After serving the party for 35 years, Paramdev said he felt suffocated in the Mayawati-led BSP as the interests of the Dalits were "being mortgaged to the people with money bags".

Calling the BSP a "grocery store" where money could buy anything from tickets to party posts, he said people who have no background and no loyalty to the party were made MLCs while dedicated workers like him were being sidelined.