Seven legislators — one from the BJP and six suspended from the BSP — joined the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav, who hit out at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Mr. Yadav claimed the BJP and the Congress “are the same”.
“The people of the State are so agitated that the BJP will be wiped out in the coming days and Bhajpa pariwar (BJP family) will appear as Bhaagta Pariwar (runaway family),” the SP chief said here while taunting the ruling party over its MLA Rakesh Rathore’s desertion and indicating that some others from the BJP were also in touch with him.
Those who joined the SP — BJP MLA from Sitapur Rakesh Rathore and BSP rebels Aslam Raini (Shrawati), Sushma Patel (Madiyahon), Aslam Ali (Hapur), Hakim Lal Bind (Handia), Mujtaba Siddiqui (Phoolpur) and Hargovind Bhargava (Sidhauli) — expressed their resolve to make Mr. Yadav the Chief Minister again. Taking to Twitter, Mr. Yadav claimed that the BJP will not get enough ticket aspirants “'even if it declares 403 Chief Ministers”.
Earlier this year, an audio clip purportedly of Mr. Rathore criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone viral on social media, after which he was asked by the party leadership to explain his alleged anti-party activities.
The BSP rebels were suspended by party president Mayawati after they had opposed the nomination of the party’s official candidate Ramji Gautam for Rajya Sabha in October 2020.
He also distanced himself from the party’s former ally, the Congress. “The opinion of Samajwadis for the Congress and the BJP is that both are the same.”
