Lucknow: Sunil Singh, the right hand of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's till his ascent to power in the state three years ago, is set to join the Samajwadi Party now. Induction of Singh, the former chief of Hindu Yuva Vahini into Samajwadi Party (SP) is likely to be done on Saturday in the presence of SP chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
A senior SP leader confirmed the development. “Over half a dozen former MLAs of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are also expected to join the SP on 20 January,” he told FPJ requesting anonymity. These entries are significant considering the BJP's strong position in Uttar Pradesh and Congress' all-out efforts to revive its roots in the state.
It is noteworthy that Yogi Adityanath founded the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) in 2002 to promote “Hindutva and nationalism”. In subsequent years, this organization of youths went on to play a significant role in his political rise in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. Some ambitious HYV members sought to contest Assembly polls, a demand which was denied by the BJP.
This led to massive dissent within the outfit as the ticket aspirants felt they were sidelined despite years of hardwork for Yogi. Sunil was ousted from HYV before the 2017 Assembly elections, when he had threatened to field HYV candidates against BJP nominees for denial of tickets to them.
When Adityanath became chief minister in March 2017 after the Bharatiya Janata Party's spectacular performance in assembly elections, HYV members hoped a better fortune for themselves but their hopes dashed soon.
Within a year the organization witnessed a vertical split. Over three dozen Adityanath loyalists launched a breakaway group called Hindu Yuva Vahini (Bharat) headed by Sunil Singh.
“We were sidelined in the organisation for demanding tickets during the 2017 assembly election. After Maharaj ji (Adityanath) became CM, we hoped that the founder members of HYV would be given important positions in the BJP district, but our hopes were dashed soon,” he had told media then.
Singh was later slapped with National Security Act in 2018 and jailed for his alleged involvement in violence at Gorakhpur. He was growing closer to the Samajwadi Party since last one year.
