The Bharatiya Janata Party got a shot in the arm ahead of the Assembly polls as six legislators — three from Congress, two from BSP and one from SP, joined the party in the presence of State president Keshav Prasad Maurya on Thursday.
The MlAs, who joined the BJP are Sanjay Jaiswal, Vijay Dubey and Madhuri Verma (Congress), Rajesh Tripathi and Bala Prasad Awasthi (Both BSP) and Sher Bahadur (SP).
Sanjay Jaiswal is an MlA from Rudauli (Faizabad), Madhuri Verma represents Nanpara seat (Bahriach) while Vijay Dubey is member from Khadda seat (Kushinagar). BSP MlA and former UP Minister Rajesh Tripathi represents Chilupaar seat (Gorakhpur) and Bala Prasad Awasthi is an MlA from Mohammadi seat (lakhimpur Kheri). Six-time MlA of ruling Samajwadi Party, Sher Bahadur represents Jalalabad seat of Ambedkar Nagar.
SP leader and former block pramukh of Bakshi-ka-talab block in lucknow, Sudarshan Yadav too joined the BJP along with thousands of supporters.
Former legislator and husband of Madhuri Verma, Dilip Kumar Verma too joined the BJP.
State BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya said that there was large-scale exodus of sitting legislators from the BSP, the SP and the Congress because they know that the BJP has emerged as the first choice of people.
“People are fed up with the goonda raj of Samajwadi Party. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has failed to reign in goonda elements within in his party. Instead, he is giving patronage to them. People also know that if the BSP returns to power, the black days of corruption will be back. Government money will again be used for construction of statues and memorials,” Maurya said.
“In this scenario, the people have a role model in the form of Narendra Modi. The BJP-led NDA Government in Delhi is pro-development. The bad part is that the State Government is not implementing Central schemes thereby preventing people from availing the benefits,” said the BJP leader.
“The legislators have ears to the ground and can hear the rumblings beneath. They are the political weather cock who can read change in weather. Hence, they have joined the BJP so that they can serve people better,” Maurya said adding that more legisltors will join BJP “as there is a beeline of MlAs from other parties who want to join the party.”