Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh's close aide of 16 years Anuradha Chaudhary and three other party leaders joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Sunday, providing a fresh political twist in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
Chaudhary brought along RLD's Rajya Sabha MP Shahid Siddiqui, MLA Vimlesh Singh, and national general secretary Khalid Masood. None of the four will, however, contest the assembly elections next month.
According to political observers, they are perhaps looking for Rajya Sabha nominations or the kind of post SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had given Chaudhary (chairperson of a water commission) during the party's last term in power when RLD was an ally.
Chaudhary said Ajit Singh had drifted away from the principles of his father Chaudhary Charan Singh. "He is busy hopping from one party to the other, one government to the other. He has joined hands with the Congress, while Chaudhary Charan Singh's politics was against the Congress."