Aparna Yadav Join Hands With BJP, Married To Akhilesh's Brother

Ms. Yadav said that she was inspired by PM Modi

New Delhi: It's a blow to the Samajwadi Party just weeks before the Uttar Pradesh's Assembly Elections, as Aparna Yadav, married to Akhilesh Yadav's brother, joined the BJP today.

Aparna Yadav is the wife of Akhilesh Yadav's brother Pratik Yadav, the younger son of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. BJP leaders, welcoming her to the party, referred to her as "Mulayam Singh's bahu (daughter-in-law)".

While expressing her views on joining the ruling Govt. and wearing the BJP scarf, Ms. Yadav said "I have always been inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi." 

"I now want to try and do better for the country. I have always been very impressed by the schemes of the BJP and I will do my best in the party," she declared.

Taking notes from the initiative taken by Ms. Yadav to join hands with BJP, the Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya, by her side, aimed his shots at Akhilesh Yadav.

"I want to welcome her and say that Akhilesh Yadav is unsuccessful in his family as well as politics," Mr. Maurya sneered.

He also said Aparna Yadav decided to join the BJP after many days of discussion.

It has been a season of crossovers in UP, which will vote in seven phases from February 10 in an election viewed as the semi-final before the 2024 national polls.

For the BJP, it is a big acquisition after many of its backward caste leaders, including three state ministers, recently crossed over to the Samajwadi Party, spoiling its caste calculations as well as optics.

Aparna Yadav contested the 2017 UP election from Lucknow Cantt as a Samajwadi candidate but lost to Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who had quit the Congress then to join the BJP.