Turncoats spice up poll contest in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: Switching sides has always been a part of the poll scenario and this time is no different with almost all parties in UP from the major ones like the BJP and Congress to smaller outfits like Apna Dal (Sonelal) seeing some legislators bidding them goodbye and some others joining them. The maximum gains from this flight of legislators has been to the BJP followed by the SP.

UP BJP spox Rakesh Tripathi said about 15 legislators of various parties who have embraced the lotus recently.

“This includes Congress MLAs Aditi Singh, Rakesh Singh (both from Rae Bareli), and Naresh Saini (from Saharanpur). BSP MLAs Vandana Singh (from Sagri), Ramveer Upadhyay (from Sadabad) and Anil Singh (from Purwa) have also joined the BJP,” Tripathi said.

Two SP MLAs, Subhash Pasi (Saidpur) and Hari Om Yadav (Sirsaganj) have joined the BJP. Hariom Yadav is a distant relative of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, and had quit SP recently. The SP members of Legislative Council, who have joined the BJP are Narendra Singh Bhati, Shatrudra Prakash, Rama Niranjan, Pappu Singh, CP Chandra, Ghanshyam Lodhi and Shailendra Pratap Singh.

The SP is also a favourite destination of MLAs of other parties. It received a big boost when three ministers — Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini — of the Yogi cabinet tendered resignation and joined it ahead of the crucial assembly elections. —PTI