In a major boost to the political fortunes of the Samajwadi Party in eastern UP, don-turned-politician and an influential Brahman leader Hari Shankar Tiwari and his son and Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari are likely to join the party.
The entry of the two leaders is likely to further strengthen the SP in east UP as the brother of jailed mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, BSP leader Sigbatullah Ansari of Ghazipur, has already joined the SP.
According to Samajwadi Party sources, Hari Shankar Tiwari’s son Vinay who is BSP MLA from Chillupar assembly seat in Gorakhpur, recently met Akhilesh in Lucknow. Sources said the SP chief also spoke to Hari Shankar Tiwari over phone.
Hari Shankar Tiwari is considered a big name among Brahmin leaders of Purvanchal and with his family coming within the SP fold; it will strengthen the Samajwadi Party’s roots in Purvanchal ahead of the crucial 2022 UP polls.
The defection of Vinay Shankar Tiwari to SP will be the second setback for BSP in Purvanchal after Shah Alam alias Guddugu Jamali of Azamgarh left the party recently.
Hari Shankar Tiwari, who became invincible from Chillupar, was defeated in 2007 and 2012 polls. In 2017, his younger son Vinay Shankar Tiwari was elected to the assembly on a BSP ticket from Chillupar seat.