Former BSP MP, several others join SP

Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP from Basti Ram Prasad Chaudhary, along with nearly a dozen former BSP lawmakers and leaders, joined the Samajwadi Party (SP)

Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP from Basti Ram Prasad Chaudhary, along with nearly a dozen former BSP lawmakers and leaders, joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the presence of SP president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Monday.

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The others who joined the SP included former lawmakers Arvind Chaudhary, Doodh Ram, Rajendra Chaudhary and Nandu Chaudhary, besides with a number of zila panchayat members.

“It was (SP patriarch) Mulayam Singh Yadav who initiated my political career. I became the Basti MP on the ticket that Mulayam Singh Yadav gave me in 1989. Then, I was elected MLA in 1993 as an SP candidate. But then I lost my way for a while. Now, Akhilesh Yadav has taken me back. I will stay here forever,” Ram Prasad Chaudhary said.

Welcoming the new entrants, Akhilesh said: “The way the weather is changing and warmth increasing, you will see the Samajwadi Party raising the political temperature. This (en masse) joining is (happening) just at the beginning of the new year. The real new year for the people of the state will begin when the BJP government is ousted in 2022 (when assembly elections are due).”