Former Union minister RPN Singh quit the Congress on Tuesday ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. He later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Positing his resignation letter on Twitter, Singh said that he was beginning a new chapter in his political journey. In another tweet, Singh praised Narendra Modi’s “visionary leadership”.

“I spent 32 years in one political party [Congress],” Singh said after joining the BJP, according to ANI. “But that party has not remained the same as it was before. I will work as a karyakarta towards fulfilling PM Modi’s dreams for India.”

Singh, one of the prominent leaders in Uttar Pradesh, was in the Congress’ star campaigner list released on Monday.

The former Union minister has been an MLA from Padrauna for three terms, reported NDTV. He was elected as an MP from Kushinagar in 2009 but lost in 2014.

On Singh’s resignation, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said that the fight led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra needs courage and cowards cannot do it, reported ANI.

Rajesh Thakur, the Congress leader in charge of Uttar Pradesh, said Singh’s decision to quit was wrong. “He must have decided after a lot of thinking,” he added. “We’re true soldiers of Congress, we’ll live and die here.”

Singh is the second prominent Congress leader in Uttar Pradesh to quit the Congress in a year after Jitin Prasada, who also joined the BJP. Prasada was later made a minister in the Adityanath Cabinet.