Lucknow: Mulayum Singh Yadav tried a lot to convince Aparna but to no avail. Now I can only wish her good luck, said visibly embarrassed Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday after BJP made a big dent in the Yadav family. The joining of Aparna Yadav, younger daughter in law of Mulayum Singh Yadav might make little impact on the poll prospects of SP but a rift in the family has boosted the morale of BJP, which until now was rattled, with the mass exodus of its backward leaders, legislators and ministers. Enthused with the entry of Aparna to saffron fold, UP CM Yogi said that she would strengthen party with her work. The party took no time in releasing a poster on women safety carrying photo of Aparna.
Aparna Bisht Yadav, a pass out from Lucknow’s prestigious Loreto Convent and later on pot graduate in international relations from Manchester University, U.K. was married to Prateek Yadav, the younger son of Mulayum Singh Yadav in the year 2011. Interestingly both the daughter in laws of Mulayum Singh Yadav are natives of neighboring state of Uttrakhand. Akhilesh Yadav born from the first wife of Mulayum Singh Yadav is married to Dimple Rawat. However, Prateek Yadav, younger son from second wife Sadhna Gupta is married to Aparna.
While insiders of Yadav family confide that both the stepbrothers Akhilesh and Prateek were never comfortable with each other, Mulayum Singh Yadav kept the clan united. After Mulayum Singh Yadav loosing grip on the party and Akhilesh taking command the relations became soar. The second wife of Mulayam wanted her son and daughter in law to be given due importance in the party which was never accepted by Akhilesh. In the assembly polls of 2017, Aparna was given SP ticket from Lucknow Cantt but she lost and after this Akhilesh did not give any importance to her in the party matters. Beleaguered Aparna tried to rope in Mulayum many times to resolve the matter and get some attention in the party but to no avail.
Sidelined in the family as well as the party Aparna started coming close to BJP leaders and her being from Uttrakhand, to where UP CM Yogi belonged to, also helped. She visited Gorakhnath mutt in 2019 to seek blessings of Yogi also and praised him many times earlier. According to SP leaders, Aparna was seeking ticket in the coming assembly elections while Akhilesh Yadav was not accepting this demand. Seeing no hope in SP, Aparna decided to join BJP and take Akhilesh Yadav head on.
Hours after joining BJP, Aparna became critical of her previous party and termed it one that supports ant-social elements. According to political analysts Aparna’s entry in BJP might not benefit the party but it shown the rift in Yadav clan and created a perception that all is not well in the principle opposition party.
