In a major jolt to the Congress ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Imran Masood, one of its prominent leaders in Saharanpur district of western UP, is likely to join the Samajwadi Party.
According to sources, he will join Akhilesh Yadav's party on Monday.
In November, prominent Jat leader and former MP of the Congress, Harendra Malik, along with his former MLA son had joined the Samajwadi Party.
Sources said that Masood called a meeting of party workers on Monday and a decision to join the SP was likely to be taken after it.
Masood has served as chairperson of Saharanpur Nagar Palika and is a former MLA from the Muzaffarabad constituency (now Behat) of Saharanpur district. He was vice-president of UP Congress. Currently, he is national secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
Imran Masood had hit the headlines ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election for using derogatory language against Bharatiya Janata party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.