New Delhi: Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly election, former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s brother-in-law and former Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Pramod Gupta on Thursday joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Talking about his decision of joining the ruling party, Pramod Gupta said: “The reason I joined BJP is that I like their policy. Akhilesh Ji hates Samajwadis in SP. One by one, he cornered everyone and has only flatterers around in the party… No one has ever won with a margin of over 18,000 votes from Bidhuna seat except me”, news agency ANI reported.
As the second member of the Yadav family joined BJP, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav thanked the ruling party for “ending the parivarvaad” in his family.
“The BJP should be happy about this. The allegation of parivarvaad that it levelled against us, at least it is ending our parivarvaad and I thank the BJP for this,” Akhilesh said at a press conference in Lucknow, as quoted by news agency PTI.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister alleged that the saffron party, which has been opposed to dynastic politics, wants to move forward by hatching conspiracies. “The SP does not instigate differences in any family, this is the work of the BJP,” he added.
The reaction came as Aparna Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law joined BJP on Wednesday in the presence of deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and BJP State president Swatantra Dev Singh.
On Thursday, along with Pramod Gupta, former Congress leader Priyanka Maurya also joined BJP. She was the face of Congress party’s ‘Ladki Hun, Lad Sakti Hun’ campaign in Uttar Pradesh but had later expressed her displeasure on not being given a ticket.
“I have joined BJP for a better platform for social service...I was constantly working in Congress...contrary to their slogan “Ladki Hun Lad Sakti Hun”, I wasn’t given the chance to fight,” she said today as she joined BJP.
Pramod Gupta before joining the ranks of the BJP alleged: “Akhilesh Yadav has imprisoned Mulayam Singh Yadav and his position is very bad in the party... Criminals and gamblers have been inducted to Samajwadi Party”.
Uttar Pradesh assembly election is slated to be held in seven phases, starting from February 10 till March 7. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
(With Agency Inputs)