Uncertain of re-nomination, 6 BSP legislators, BJP MLA join Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh

The deserting MLAs claimed that more BSP and BJP legislators could leave their parties in the days to come

With the next Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh getting closer, party-hopping among the MLAs who are not certain of re-nomination, has started.

Six BSP BSP legislators and one BJP MLA joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday in the presence of SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav.

The MLAs who joined the SP included Sushma Patel, Hargovind Bhargav, Aslam Chaudhary, Aslam Raini, Hakim Lal Bind and Mujtaba Siddiqui (all BSP) and Rakesh Rathore (BJP).

BSP had already expelled all these six MLAs. Rathore had been served a show-cause notice for spewing venom against the BJP leadership.

Read | Amit Shah likens previous UP regimes to Mughals

Barely a few days ago, two senior BSP leaders, including Ram Achal Rajbhar and Lalji Verma, both former UP ministers, had joined the SP.

Speaking to reporters, Akhilesh said that BJP was going to 'lose' the next Assembly polls and desertion of one of its MLAs was 'proof' of the same.

Taunting the BJP over latter's slogan 'Mera Parivaar, BJP Parivaar' (My family, BJP family) which was coined by former BJP president Amit Shah, Akhilesh sought to rephrase the slogan as 'BJP Parivaar, Bhagta Parivaar' (BJP family on the run).

According to the sources in the SP, Akhilesh has assured all the seven MLAs who joined his party that they would be given a ticket in the next Assembly election.

The deserting MLAs also claimed that more BSP and BJP legislators could leave their parties in the days to come and join the SP. BJP has hinted that it may deny re-nomination to around 100 of its sitting MLAs.

Watch latest videos by DH here: