In a big catch during Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) managed to bring Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger daughter in law Aparna Yadav to its fold.
On Wednesday, Aparna joined BJP at its Delhi headquarters in the presence of senior leaders. Along with her former legislator from Etawah and brother in law of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Pramod Gupta too joined BJP.
Soon after joining BJP, Aparna lashed out at SP and called it a party that promotes hooliganism and anti-social elements. She said that women can never feel safe in the government of SP.
Aparna said that nation is first for her and that is why she preferred to work with Modi-Yogi and joined BJP. Soon after joining, Aparna’s photograph figured in the posters of BJP claiming the safety of women in its regime.
The UP CM Yogi Adityanath welcomed Aparna Yadav in BJP and said hoped that she would strengthen the party with her work. He said that Aparna liked the double engine work of BJP and the vision of Modi.
Arpana joined the party in presence of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, state president Swatantra Deo Singh and other senior leaders at Delhi headquarters. Pramod Gupta, another SP leader who joined BJP with Aparna said that Mulayam Singh Yadav has lost relevance in the party and nobody listens to him now.
Meanwhile, SP Chief while reacting to Aprana’s move said that he is happy to see the expansion of Samajwadi ideology to other parties. He, however, said that Mulayam Singh Yadav tried his level best to persuade Aparna not to join BJP.
When asked whether SP refused to give the ticket to Aparna, Akhilesh said that it is yet not finalized and many things decide the candidature. He mocked that those not getting tickets in SP are being entertained by BJP.
It may be mentioned that Aparna had contested 2017 assembly polls on SP symbol from Lucknow Cantt assembly segment and was defeated by BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi by a margin of over 30,000 votes. After this, she was sidelined in SP and never attended any party programme.
After many backward leaders, legislators and three ministers deserted BJP to join SP, the former decided to approach Aparna Yadav and bring her to party folds.
According to senior BJP leaders, instead of being a candidate in the coming assembly polls, Aparna might only campaign for the party.
