LUCKNOW: In a significant development in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, seven legislators including a ruling BJP MLA and six suspended BSP MLAs joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party in Lucknow on Saturday.
The seven MLAs who joined the SP in the presence of the party president are BJP MLA Rakesh Rathore (Sitapur Sadar) and six suspended BSP MLAs – Aslam Raini (Bhinga), Mujtaba Siddiqui (Partapur) Aslam Ali Chaudhary (Dhalauna), Hakim Lal Bind (Handia), Sushma Patel (Mungra Badshahpur) and Hargovind Bhargava (Sidhauli).
All the six BSP MLAs had been suspended after they had opposed the nomination of the Mayawati-led party’s official candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls last year.
The seven MLAs had been in touch with the SP president for long and their entry into the party was on expected lines. Two more rebel BSP leaders and ex-UP ministers Lalji Verma and Ramachal Rajbhar had on Monday announced that they will join the SP at a rally in Ambedkar Nagar district on November 7.
The seven MLAs joined the SP just a day after the powerful father-son duo of Congress leaders from West UP Harendra Malik and Pankaj Malik joined the SP. While Harendra Malik is a former Congress MP, his son Pankaj Malik is a former Congress MLA.
Harendra Malik has also been Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s advisor for West UP.