Aparna Yadav joined the party in the presence of BJP State president Swatantra Dev Singh and UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.
New Delhi: In what is seen as a big blow to the Samajwadi Party (SP) ahead of upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Aparna Yadav, daughter-in-law of former state chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday (January 19, 2022).
Aparna Yadav joined the party in the presence of BJP State president Swatantra Dev Singh and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Yadav thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath after joining the party.
She also said that she has always been impressed by the initiatives of the Modi-led government.
Later in the day, Aparna is also expected to meet BJP national president JP Nadda.
Aparna Yadav to fight from Lucknow Cantt assembly seat?
According to the sources, Aparna Yadav has sought a ticket from the Lucknow Cantt assembly seat.
However, speculation is also rife that BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s son Mayank Joshi is trying hard to get the ticket to fight the assembly election from Lucknow Cantt, the seat his mother had won in the 2017 state polls but vacated in 2019 after she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Allahabad.
The BJP’s Suresh Chandra Tiwari had then won the Lucknow Cantt seat in the bye-election of 2019, defeating Aparna Yadav.
Lucknow Cantt, notably, is one of the nine assembly constituencies in Lucknow district and has a sizeable chunk of Hindu Brahmin voters. Polling in Lucknow Cantt is scheduled on February 23 in the fourth phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh.
It is noteworthy that elections to the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Akhilesh Yadav set to contest Assembly elections for first time?
Meanwhile, there are reports that SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav is all set to contest his first Assembly election. The Lok Sabha MP from Azamgarh, say party sources, will contest Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2022.
When asked from where Akhilesh will contest, the source said that the party has not yet disclosed the seat.
