The Uttar Pradesh unit of Bharatiya Janata Party received a shot in its arm when several leaders and former legislators of different political parties joined the ruling party in the presence of its state president Mahendra Nath Pandey here on Wednesday.

Prominent among those who joined the BJP are two-time Congress MLA from Tiloi in Amethi and presently a BSP leader, Dr Muslim, and former BSP MP Suresh Pasi from Kaushambi.

While welcoming the leaders into the party fold, Pandey said that these leaders had a big base and great following. He said the BJP would be strengthened at the ground level after these leaders reposed faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“A Modi wave is sweeping across the country and there is no one to challenge the BJP,” Pandey said, adding that the joining of such senior leaders was an indication that people at the village were talking about development schemes being carried out by the Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath governments.     

When asked about the impact Dr Muslim’s joining the BJP would have on Congress as he is a senior leader of Amethi, the BJP state president said that the grand old party had already conceded defeat as its leaders had admitted that they were preparing for 2022 assembly polls in UP.

Others who joined the BJP are BSP leader from Kannauj, Nirmal Tiwari; BSP leader from Chitrakoot, Jagdish Gautam; SP leader and former state minister Nityanand Sharma from Deoria’ SP leaders Kusum Singh and Ramesh Pandey and actor Mukesh Vardhan Tyagi.