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BJP celebrates OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan’s ‘ghar wapsi’ amid buzz of more joinings
Dara Singh Chauhan was originally in the Bahujan Samaj Party before he embraced the BJP ahead of the 2017 UP assembly polls. He joined the Samajwadi Party before the 2022 UP polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated the “ghar wapsi (homecoming)” of its former national OBC wing chief Dara Singh Chauhan, 60, at its state unit office here on Monday even as its leaders as well as those of its allies, including Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, suggested that such entries were a precursor to the “exodus” that would be witnessed in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Just wait and watch, you will see it all yourself,” said Om Prakash Rajbhar in Ballia. He had on Sunday announced that he was returning to the BJP-led-NDA.
Dara Singh Chauhan who represents Nonia, a most backward caste in east UP, had earlier met UP Vidhan Sabha speaker Satish Mahana to tender his resignation as Samajwadi Party MLA. He had joined the SP ahead of the 2022 U.P. assembly polls.
Flanked by UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary, deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak and other BJP leaders, Chauhan said, “I just want to say that no power on earth can stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi from becoming the PM for the third time. I will leave no stone unturned to make it happen.”
Chauhan was originally in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) before he embraced the BJP ahead of the 2017 U.P. assembly polls.
The former minister, who arrived in the state capital from New Delhi after meeting Union home minister Amit Shah, also claimed that the opposition would now be limited to “some family seats,” an obvious reference to the SP and its bastions in Mainpuri.
“I wish to make it clear that no matter where he may have been for a while, he was always in touch and we continued to receive his blessings and guidance,” Pathak said.
Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said, “I have no doubt that BJP would now win all 80 Lok Sabha seats from the state to ensure a big push for a third consecutive stint for PM Modi at the Centre.”
Chaudhary said that Dara Singh Chauhan and his supporters would be given complete respect in the BJP.
“Our party is emerging stronger now as Chauhanji has also joined the BJP’s development journey,” he said.
Soon after rejoining the BJP, Chauhan said Purvanchal (east UP), where he hailed from, was heavily fortified.
“Some feel that the Azamgarh seat in Purvanchal is the only one where one party has a chance. I am telling you today, that no party here stands a chance. Barring BJP, all other parties have been relegated to their family pocket boroughs,” he said.
Chauhan’s backward community is present in good numbers in Lok Sabha constituencies like Ghazipur, which was among the 14 seats that the BJP lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
“I think am grateful to BJP leaders for having welcomed me into the party that is led by a leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is now a global icon,” said Chauhan, who was the minister for forests and environment in the first Yogi government from 2017 to 2022.
“When I say BJP under Modi is even making its presence in the sky, don’t take it as an exaggeration. That’s because the Chandrayaan-3 that was successfully launched has placed the mission in a precise orbit... That’s why I say that from space to ground, Modi magic is all around,” he added.
