Ahead of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, six suspended MLAs of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one BJP MLA joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) led by Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday in Lucknow.
The BSP MLAs who joined Akhilesh’s party are Aslam Raini (Bhigna), Mujtaba Siddiqui (Pratapur), Aslam Ali Chaudhary (Dhalauna), Hakim Lal Bind (Handia), Sushma Patel (Mungra Badshapur) and Hargovind Bhargava (Sidhauli). Rakesh Rathore is the BJP MLA from Sitapur Sadar assembly constituency who has switched to SP. BSP had suspended these MLAs after they opposed the nomination of BSP’s official candidate for Rajya Sabha polls in October last year.
Lucknow: Six suspended BSP MLAs — Hargovind Bhargav, Mujtaba Siddiqui, Hakim Lal Bind, Aslam Raini, Sushma Patel, and Aslam Chaudhary and BJP MLA from Sitapur Sadar Rakesh Rathore today joined Samajwadi Party in presence of party president Akhilesh Yadav. pic.twitter.com/CTcM52n0BW
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 30, 2021
Their joining has no element of surprise since these MLAs had earlier hinted that they will join the SP. In October last year, BSP chief Mayawati had suspended seven of her party’s MLAs who had opposed the nomination of BSP’s official candidate Ramji Gautam for the Rajya Sabha election. Six of them were in regular touch with the SP, and had met Akhilesh Yadav in June. That time they had made their intention known to join the SP. Two other expelled BSP MLAs Ramachal Rajbhar (Akbarpur) and Lalji Verma (Katehari) are also set to join the SP on November 7. Both were considered close to Mayawati who had delegated them key responsibilities like the leader of the opposition and BSP national general secretary respectively. They had also served in Mayawati-led cabinet in Uttar Pradesh. Both were expelled from the BSP in June this year for their alleged anti-party activates during the panchayat election earlier this year.
The BJP MLA Raakesh Rathore has a known history of anti-party and activities. Rathore, a businessman by profession, had started his political career from the BSP. He unsuccessfully contested the Sitapur assembly seat as the BSP nominee in 2007. He had joined the BJP ahead 0f the last assembly election and got the BJP ticket. But right after he won the election, he became critical of the party and the Yogi Adityanath government. When the Uttar Pradesh government had thrown its might to control the Covid-19 pandemic he was mocking and criticizing the Yogi government. He had said that MLAs had no status in Uttar Pradesh adding that he might have to face sedition charges if spoke too much.
He had also mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Tali thali, diya jalao’ appeal. Rathore had met Akhilesh Yadav last month, confirming that he will be joining Samajwadi Party soon. At that time, BJP leaders had said that non-performers who are sure that they will not get tickets in 2022 are looking for greener pastures, and Rathore is one of them.
