Guddu Jamali Joins SP: Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, the leader of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) and a former Uttar Pradesh MLA, joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Jamali, a two-time MLA (2012, 2017) from Azamgarh's Mubarakpur seat, is popular in the district.
According to The Hindu, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav stated: "Today, I congratulate Shah Alam Guddu and his supporters. This year's elections will include a 'Samvidhan Manthan', similar to the 'Samudra Manthan'. We are pleased that our PDA family is growing, and we will work together to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections."
Who Is Guddu Jamali?
Previously associated with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)Shah Alam, popularly known as Guddu Jamali, is a two-time MLA, who lost the Azamgarh Lok Sabha by-election in 2022 but perhaps made the biggest impact.
He ran in the 2014 and 2022 Lok Sabha by-elections from Azamgarh against SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and party leader Dharmendra Yadav, respectively.
In the 2022 byelection, Jamali received 2,66,210 votes from the constituency, apparently on the back of Muslim voters. Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirhua of the BJP won the election with 3.12 lakh votes, while SP's Dharmendra Yadav received 3.04 lakh.
He effectively damaged the SP's chances of retaining the seat that its president Akhilesh Yadav had won in 2019 with a 60.36 per cent vote share. It is to be noted that the SP had contested the election in alliance with the BSP.
In the 2014 election, Jamali received over 2.66 lakh votes from Azamgarh and finished third, while SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav won the seat with 3.40 lakh voters.
SP has not yet declared any candidate for the Azamgarh seat and has made Dharmendra Yadav in charge of this and the Kannauj seat.