UP Election 2022: Rita Bahuguna Joshi's Son Mayank Meets Akhilesh, Sparks Speculations

Mayank Joshi, son of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi had a meeting with Samajwadi party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday.

Mayank Joshi, son of Rita Bahuguna Joshi meets SP chief Akhilesh Yadav| (Image: Twitter/Akhilesh Yadav)

New Delhi: In the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections several leaders have left their parties to join rivals citing discontent of some kind or the other. In another such speculative move, Mayank Joshi, son of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi had a meeting with Samajwadi party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday.

Soon after the meeting, the Samajwadi Party chief put up a picture with Mayank holding a bouquet and tweeted in Hindi, "A courtesy meeting with Mr Mayank Joshi."

श्री मयंक जोशी जी से शिष्टाचार भेंट। pic.twitter.com/SPNPsN3vCh

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 22, 2022

However, there wasn't any comment or tweet from Joshi about his meeting with Akhilesh Yadav.

Rita Bahuguna Joshi had last month offered to step down as an MP if her party was ready to give her Son Mayank a ticket to contest from Lucknow Cantt. The BJP, however, did not oblige and instead fielded Lucknow (central) MLA and minister Brijesh Pathak from the Cantt assembly seat.

Joshi has herself represented the constituency. She had won the 2017 assembly elections from Lucknow Cantt, but quit the seat after she became an MP from Allahabad in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The vacant assembly seat was later won by BJP’s Suresh Tiwari.

Joshi had defeated Akhilesh Yadav's sister-in-law, Aparna Yadav of the Samajwadi Party to become the MLA of Lucknow Cantt in the 2017 assembly elections . 

Aparna Yadav has now joined the BJP and was being seen as one of the party candidate for the assembly seat. However, the BJP came to a consensus on the candidature of Brajesh Pathak for the Lucknow Cantt assembly seat.

Under the fourth phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, voting has begun in the constituency. Lucknow Cantt, is among eight assembly seats in the state capital Lucknow.