Former Uttar Pradesh minister Dharam Singh Saini, a prominent OBC politician who, along with Swami Prasad Maurya had resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to join the Samajwadi Party right before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections, is returning to the party. According to the reports, The leader is likely to join the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath while the latter visits to promote the party in the Khatauli by-election on Wednesday. Saini lost his Nakur seat to BJP leader Mukesh Chaudhary in the assembly elections held earlier this year.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath will speak at an election rally in Khatauli on Wednesday in favour of BJP candidate Rajkumari Saini, the wife of former MLA Vikram Saini, who was disqualified after being found guilty in the Muzaffarnagar riot case. Dharam Singh Saini would be joining the party today in presence of CM Yogi Adityanath.
Former minister Dharam Singh Saini who is an Ayurveda practitioner had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party before the 2017 assembly polls. This is after he had left the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) along with Swami Prasad Maurya months before the 2017 elections.
Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Elections in 2022, he resigned from BJP along with Maurya and six other OBC leaders saying that the party neglected farmers and people belonging to the backward community and Dalits. “I have resigned because for five years Dalits, backward classes were suppressed, their voices were suppressed… We will do whatever Swami Prasad Maurya will say. One minister and 3-4 MLAs will resign every day till Jan 20,” he had said in January 2022. He held independent charge of the Ayush and Food Security and Drug Administration in the CM Yogi Adityanath-led cabinet.
However, he lost the election seat to BJP leader Mukesh Chaudhary from Nakur in March of this year.
Dr. Saini joined BSP in 2002 and became MLA for the first time. He was again elected as MLA from the Nakur seat in 2007 and 2012. Later he joined BJP in 2016 and became MLA from the Nakur seat in 2017 for the fourth time.
Ahead of the 2022 elections, he resigned from BJP and joined Samajwadi Party. Saini is all set to get back to the BJP today probably after he lost his traditional Nakur seat to BJP leader Mukesh Chaudhary by 315 votes this year. Reports mention that Saini was in touch with the BJP leaders after his defeat and decided to rejoin the party after his sympathizers opined that his inclusion could positively impact voters ahead of the Vidhan Sabha election in Khatauli, Uttar Pradesh 2022.
By-election in Khatauli will take place on December 5 and votes will be counted on December 8.
