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Three rebel Samajwadi Party MLAs may join Bharatiya Janata Party today
Three rebel SP MLAs will join the BJP in Amethi, bolstering the party’s outreach ahead of Uttar Pradesh’s 2027 elections.
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Three rebel Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs — Rakesh Pratap Singh, Abhay Singh and Vinod Chaturvedi — will join the BJP at a programme in Amethi on Wednesday in the presence of state BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary and former Union minister Smriti Irani.
With the 2027 assembly elections approaching, the induction of the three MLAs, representing constituencies in Awadh and Bundelkhand, is being seen as part of the BJP’s outreach ahead of the polls.
Speaking to reporters in Amethi, Rakesh Pratap Singh, the MLA from Gauriganj, confirmed that he would join the BJP along with Abhay Singh, who represents Gosainganj in Ayodhya, and Vinod Chaturvedi, the MLA from Kalpi in Jalaun.
State ministers Dara Singh Chauhan and Pratibha Shukla will also attend the programme, BJP district president Sudhanshu Shukla said.
Rakesh Pratap Singh won the Gauriganj seat in 2012, 2017 and 2022, defeating the BJP candidate by 6,963 votes in the last election. His differences with the SP widened after he voted for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections in 2024. The SP expelled him in June 2025, after which he remained an unattached member of the Assembly.
Explaining his decision to join the BJP, Singh alleged that questions were being raised within the SP over the existence of Lord Ram and cited incidents of the Ramcharitmanas being burnt and torn. He also alleged that caste and family interests were being prioritised over the interests of the nation and society.
Abhay Singh was first elected in 2012 and returned to the Assembly in 2022. Vinod Chaturvedi won his seat in 2007 and again in 2022.
Another SP leaderl Manoj Kumar Pandey, who had reportedly led the rebellion back then during the February 2024 Rajya Sabha elections, had resigned as the Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief Whip in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly to cross-vote in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates. He was subsequently expelled from SP for working against party principles. Pandey later joined the BJP, which ultimately rewarded his defection on May 10, 2026, by inducting him as a cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.
