Several leaders join BJP ahead of UP polls

In the run-up to the UP polls, the BJP has been inducting leaders from the opposition parties and party functionaries said this trend would continue

Ahead of the UP polls, several leaders from the opposition parties, including former ministers Jai Narayan Tiwari and Vijay Mishra, along with former lawmakers Madan Gautam and Kunwar Abhimanyu Pratap Singh, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Lucknow on Sunday. The UP polls are due early next year.

The new entrants to the party with BJP leaders in Lucknow on Sunday. (SOURCED IMAGE )

The others who joined the party included state head of UP Dhobi Mahasabha Jagdev Kureel, former senior bureaucrat Ashok Kumar Singh, former general secretary of High Court Bar Association Ram Shiromani Shukla, former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from Unnao Dharmendra Pandey and social activist Akhilesh Verma from Lakhimpur Kheri.

The joining was done in the presence of former UP BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai, the head of the joining committee. Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, a member of the joining committee, was also present on the occasion. The function was conducted by UP BJP vice president Daya Shankar Singh, another member of the joining committee.

In the run-up to the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the BJP has been inducting leaders from the opposition parties and party leaders said this would continue as the elections approach. Welcoming the leaders, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh said, “Many leaders from the opposition parties are now joining us as they are impressed by the kind of leadership we have and the party’s motto of nation first.”

When asked if these leaders had been promised tickets, the state BJP chief said: “The BJP doesn’t offer tickets to anyone on the basis of caste or religion. The party leadership would take a call on the issue of who gets tickets.”