Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav joined the BJP on Wednesday, asserting that she has always been impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She joined the party in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and its state chief Swatantra Dev Singh.

Expressing her admiration for Modi, she also said the nation's interest has always been a priority for her and praised several schemes of the BJP government for cleanliness, empowerment of women and employment. Aparna Yadav is married to Prateek Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav's second wife while SP president Akhilesh Yadav is his son from the first marriage.

There had been much speculation about her joining the BJP, and the development highlights the rift in the SP's ruling family at a time when Akhilesh Yadav has been working to rally the party's base in the run up to the state assembly polls. Maurya was quick to attack Akhilesh Yadav, saying he has not been successful in his family and was also "unsuccessful" as chief minister and MP.

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With Akhilesh Yadav yet to make it clear if he will fight the polls, Maurya took a jibe at him, saying the SP leader always stakes claim over development works carried out by the BJP government but is unable to have courage to fight from any place which he has "developed". Yadav has often claimed that several signature development projects of the BJP government in the state were either sanctioned or even undertaken by his dispensation when it was in power during 2012-17, a claim mocked by the ruling party.

Praising Aparna Yadav, Maurya said she had been from time to time expressing views that showed her inclination towards the BJP. The Uttar Pradesh BJP president used the occasion to hit out at the Samajwadi Party for its alleged support to criminals in its ticket distribution in western Uttar Pradesh, the region which goes to the polls on February 10 and 14.

Farmers and women never felt safe when the SP was in power, he said. Aparna Yadav believes that good governance of PM Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should continue, and her induction in the BJP will boost the party, Singh said. The BJP may field her in the polls, sources said.

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After her joining ceremony, Aparna Yadav met BJP national president J P Nadda, CM Adityanath and other office-bearers of the party. The development comes days after a string of BJP lawmakers from the state, including ministers and mostly from backward castes, had defected to the Samajwadi Party, alleging that the BJP worked against the interests of the poor and deprived communities.

Aparna Yadav had contested the 2017 assembly polls on the Samajwadi Party ticket from Lucknow Cantt but had lost to BJP's Rita Bahuguna Joshi, now a Lok Sabha member. Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases beginning from February 10.

First Published:Jan 19, 2022 3:16 PM IST