The Bharatiya Janata Party got a shot in its arms before a first phase of polling on Thursday as a large number of Samajwadi Party leaders led by former minister and former Lok Sabha candidate Hemraj Verma from Pilibhit joined the ruling party.
Among others who joined the BJP were Sandhya Singh Patel, the block pramukh of Ganj-Moradabad, and Sheela Singh, the state vice-president of SP Mahila Sabha. She was also a member of the State Commission for Women.
BJP state president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said that a large number of leaders of other parties were taking membership of the BJP after being influenced by the public welfare policies of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“The BJP is set to win the municipal elections because of the development works being carried out by the state government. There is a wave sweeping across the state in favour of BJP. After the local bodies elections, the infrastructure will be further strengthened by getting development work done in a planned manner in the urban areas of the state,” Chaudhary said.
Hitting out at the opposition, he said that the leaders sitting in air-conditioned rooms could not fathom the mood of the public. “People have not forgotten the misrule of SP-BSP even today. Crime and corruption were at its peak during their rules,” he said.