Six rebel Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs are set to join the Samajwadi Party on Saturday in the presence of its national president Akhilesh Yadav at party’s state headquarters in Lucknow, people aware of the development said.
The development comes a day after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav inducted two western UP Congress heavyweights Harendra Malik (former MP) and his former MLA son Pankaj Malik into SP fold.
The BSP MLAs who are joining SP are: Aslam Raini, Mujtaba Siddiqui, Aslam Ali Chaudhary, Hakim Lal Bind, Sushma Patel, and Hargovind Bhargava. BSP had suspended these MLAs after they opposed the nomination of BSP’s official candidate for Rajya Sabha polls last October.
The six MLAs had met Akhilesh Yadav then for the first time and now later in June this year.
On Monday, former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders Lalji Verma and Ramachal Rajbhar had announced that they will formally join the Samajwadi Party at a rally in Ambedkar Nagar district on November 7 in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Ramachal Rajbhar is the MLA from UP’s Akbarpur and Lalji Verma from the state’s Katehari constituency in Ambedkar Nagar district. “We worked hard for the BSP for very long but were expelled from the party on June 3,” Verma said, while speaking at Akhilesh Yadav’s press conference in Lucknow.
{{/usCountry}}Ramachal Rajbhar is the MLA from UP’s Akbarpur and Lalji Verma from the state’s Katehari constituency in Ambedkar Nagar district. “We worked hard for the BSP for very long but were expelled from the party on June 3,” Verma said, while speaking at Akhilesh Yadav’s press conference in Lucknow.
{{/usCountry}}BSP had expelled the two, accusing them of anti-party activities during the panchayat election earlier this year.
Once considered close to BSP chief Mayawati, both Lalji Verma and Ramachal Rajbhar served as cabinet ministers during the BSP regime in the state. Before their expulsion, Verma was the state president of the party and Rajbhar the BSP Legislature Party leader in the UP assembly.
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The six rebel BSP MLAs delayed their formal switch to the Samajwadi Party to protect their assembly memberships. The BSP has 18 MLAs in the UP assembly, but 11 of them are either suspended or expelled.
Aslam Raini is an MLA from Bhigna in Shravasti; Mujtaba Siddiqui from Pratapur in Prayagraj; Aslam Ali Chaudhary from Dhalauna, Hapur; Hakim Lal Bind from Handia, Prayagraj; Sushma Patel from Mungra Badshapur in Jaunpur, and Hargovind Bhargava represents Sidhauli, Sitapur.
Samajwadi Party, for the last one-and-a-half years, has been attracting leaders from other parties--largely BSP and Congress, and the switch overs have intensified as the assembly polls draw close. Akhilesh Yadav has been repeatedly saying that “any leader who wishes to join SP is welcome” and “SP will not ally with any big political party and will instead opt for strategic alliances with small regional parties”. Last week, Akhilesh Yadav stitched an alliance with SBSP (Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party)--a former BJP ally-turned-rival.
Uttar Pradesh is likely to go to polls early next year.