LUCKNOW: After winning over the political aces like UP Congress chief and party’s sitting MLA Rita Bahuguna Joshi, former Leader of Opposition and senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, former Rajya Sabha members Brijesh Pathak and Jugul Kishore, the BJP added another feather to its cap in the state by bringing in Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader in UP Assembly Dalbir Singh Chaudhary here on Sunday.
Dalbir Singh, a senior RLD leader who has worked with former Prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, has been quite vocal against BJP in the past and seen coming out in Akhilesh’s support in the Assembly.
However, his pro-Akhilesh stand then could be attributed to the anticipation of a possible ‘mahagathhbandhan’ (grand alliance) which RLD and JD(U) were quite eager for. The efforts of the two parties came the cropper when SP chief Mulayam put an end to all those possibilities by asking RLD to merge with his party.
Notably, the BJP, giving sleepless nights to its political rivals in the state by the entry of stalwarts of rival parties, even the party insiders, and loyalist are also apparently worried about their fate and prospects in the organisation.
However, having a feel of party workers’ mood, while RSS-affiliated outfits have taken up the issue with party top brass, BJP state unit chief Keshav Kumar Maurya, too, is seen assuring party workers of no injustice vis-a-vis ticket distribution for the ensuing state elections.
Besides Dalbir, former MLA from Karchhana in Allahabad Anand Kumar alias Collector Pandey and Congress spokesman Dhirendra Singh also joined the BJP in the presence of UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Along with them, Rudra Raman Singh alias Babloo Singh who contested the last election as an Independent also has joined the saffron ranks. However, BJP state unit chief Keshav Kumar Maurya took the opportunity to launch a broadside on Akhilesh government and Samajwadi Party over the ongoing intense infighting.