LUCKNOW: Wielding a major blow to the campaign of "inclusiveness" envisioned by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, the ‘Chhoti Bahu’ of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Aparna Yadav, joined the BJP in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Not only Aparna but a few other members of the Yadav family are expected to join the saffron brigade in the coming couple of days. The move of the BJP to poach the family members of Akhilesh Yadav is being seen as paying him back in the same coin after the exodus of its three ministers and their supporters.
Last week three Yogi ministers – Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan, and Dharam Singh –along with a dozen sitting BJP MLAs had switched sides to the SP.
Meanwhile, UP deputy CM Keshav Maurya attacked the SP chief saying Akhilesh Yadav had not been successful even in his family. "Despite being the bahu of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Aparna ji expressed her opinions on several issues from time to time. We used to feel she is part of the BJP family," Keshav Maurya said.
After joining the BJP, Aparna extended her gratitude to PM Narendra Modi and the party saying the PM's ideologies and the working style of CM Yogi Aditynath had always inspired and moved her as she also believed in the ‘Nation first’ idea.
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She said she was there to contribute to the nation-building to the best of her capabilities.
Reacting to the development, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav extended his best wishes to Aparna saying he was happy over the expansion of Samajwadi ideology which had reached the BJP camp. “I hope that our ideology has reached there and it will help save the democracy and Constitution,” said Akhilesh. However, he accepted that Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) tried his best to convince Aparna against her step to join the BJP but to no avail.
Speculations about Aparna Yadav joining the BJP were rife for quite some time. She wanted to contest the ensuing elections but SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was not inclined to field anyone from the family. Akhilesh’s reluctance to give her the ticket pushed Aparna to switch over to the BJP camp.
Aparna is seen in the political corridors of Uttar Pradesh as Mulayam’s daughter-in-law with high political ambitions. She had contested the 2017 assembly election from Lucknow Cantt seat on SP ticket but was defeated by BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi by a margin of 33796 votes. While Joshi got 51.21 per cent votes, Aparna could secure 33.07 per cent votes under a strong Modi wave.
This time too, Aparna, wife of Akhilesh’s half-brother Prateek Yadav, is eyeing to contest from a seat decided by the party. Prateek is the son of Mulayam’s second wife Sadhna Gupta Yadav.
“I will fulfill the responsibilities which the party will give me to the best of my capabilities. I am hopeful that whatever the party decides for me will be the best in my favour,” said Aparna while reacting to a query about her ticket.
Aparna, as she claimed, had been believing in the BJP ideology since the beginning. Going against her family line, she was often seen supporting the ruling party on a number of issues ranging from backing the revocation of Art 370 in J&K or supporting the anti-COVID vaccination drive which Akhilesh had rejected as BJP’s vaccine. Aparna was one among the firsts to donate Rs 11.11 lakh towards the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and later tweeted her picture with RSS ideologue Datttreya Haosable. She had got her gaushala with hundreds of cattle inaugurated by CM Yogi in Lucknow a few years back.
Daughter of a journalist Arvind Singh Bisht, Aparna is an alumnus of Loretto Convent and went to Manchester University in the UK to do her post-graduation in International Relations and Politics. She got married to Prateek Yadav in 2011. They have a daughter. Apart from being a politician, Aparna Yadav is a trained classical singer. She studied classical music for nine years at Bhatkhande Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Lucknow.