Bahujan Samaj Party’s former MLA and minister Ghura Ram joined Samajwadi Party in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav on Monday.
Ram is a strong BSP leader of Ballia and was minister in the Mayawati government in 1995.
Along with Ghura Ram, another backward leader, Gopal Nishad, who runs Phoolan Sena, also joined the SP along with his supporters.
The SP recently suffered setback as former prime minister Chandra Shekhar’s son Neeraj Shekhar quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Welcoming the leaders in the party, the SP chief said that their joining the party would strengthen the SP base in Ballia and Purvanchal.
In his address, Ram said that several senior BSP leaders were ready to leave the party to join the SP.
Nishad said the BJP had ditched the Nishad community and done nothing for them.
Both leaders said that they would put all their strength to enable Akhilesh Yadav to become the chief minister of UP in 2022.
On the occasion, Akhilesh also launched an app. ‘Kisan Junction’, prepared by a Saifai youth. It would help farmers in getting relevant information about agriculture inputs and marketing.