2 MLAs join Samajwadi Party ahead of polls in UP

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party got a shot in the arm on Sunday when two sitting Brahmin MLAs, one from the Bharatiya Janata Party and one from the Bahujan Samaj Party, joined the party on Sunday in presence of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

The legislators who joined the SP are Vinay Shankar Tiwari (BSP) from Chillupar assembly constituency in Gorakhpur and Digvijay Narayan alias Jai Chaubey representing Khalilabad constituency in Sant Kabir Nagar.

Former chairman of UP Legislative Council, Ganesh Shankar Pandey, who was fielded by the BSP in 2010 for the post of Council chairman, also joined the Samajwadi Party. Santosh Tiwari, the BSP candidate from Karnailganj assembly constituency in Gonda, also joined the SP.

Apart from these prominent leaders, a large number of Brahmins from different political parties also joined the SP.

Speaking on the occasion, Vinay Shankar described Yadav as a "popular leader" and said, "This (BJP) government was not formed for democracy (loktantra) but for autocracy (rajtantra), and there is a ban on free speech. This government has also started a new trend of putting its plaques on foundation stones or development work of any other government."

Training guns on the ruling party, Tiwari said innocent people were framed in fake cases in Gorakhpur and other districts of eastern UP. He alleged that the fake encounters by the police seemed to be the policy of the state. The former BSP MLA alleged that the people were being sent to jail even for a



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Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said, “I welcome all the people who have joined Samajwadi Party today. I am happy that such a big and influential family has come with us and now there is no competition for the Samajwadi Party in eastern UP. I also welcome Payal who comes from the transgender community and we also appoint him as shief of SP Kinnar (Transgender) wing so that problems faced by people of the community can be addressed.”

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP, Yadav said, “Looking at the state of work being done based on caste and religion, it looks like this government has adopted the policy of ‘divide and rule’ of the Britishers. While the British ruled by dividing, the BJP is ruling by spreading fear and atrocities. However, the people have now understood this, and in the 2022 elections the people will teach them (BJP) a lesson."

Attacking the state government, the SP chief said, “The government has not been able to give tablets, laptops, etc., in the last four and a half years. It is a government that has not fulfilled its promises, how will anyone trust them?”

Eastern UP is crucial for winning the electoral battle in UP. In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP won 106 out of 156 assembly seats in 26 districts, SP got 85 seats in 2012, and BSP got over 70 seats in 2007 -- all from Purvanchal. This is the reason the BJP has focused its attention on eastern UP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already addressed several public meetings in the region.