Ahead of the crucial 2022 UP assembly elections, the Congress suffered yet another setback when senior party leader Imran Masood confirmed that he would be switching to Samajwadi Party.
This move by Masood was speculated since September last year after he openly praised Samajwadi Party terming it as the main contender for the 2022 state polls.
“Current political circumstances indicate that there is a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party in UP. I held a meeting with my supporters and they unanimously supported my decision to join the Samajwadi Party. I have sought time from SP president Akhilesh Yadav and will meet him on Tuesday,” Imran Masood said on Monday.
Masood became an Independent MLA from Muzaffarabad assembly seat by defeating Jagdish Singh Rana of Samajwadi Party in the 2007 state polls. He also won the election of Saharanpur municipality chairman. In 2012, he contested the assembly elections from Nakur but lost. In 2014, Masood contested from Saharanpur on Congress ticket and secured 4.10 lakh votes but he could only emerge runner-up. After this, he contested from Nakur assembly seat in the 2017 UP elections but lost to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Dharam Singh Saini by about 1,300 votes. Besides assembly poll, Imran Masood also tried his luck in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections but lost.
A few days after meeting SP chief Akhilesh Yadav at a marriage function, the Congress leader from western UP had praised Samajwadi Party, giving fuel to speculations of his switching over to the party.
The exodus in Congress continues as many senior leaders including Jitin Prasada switched over to the BJP a few months back while Congress MLA from Rae Bareli (Sadar) Aditi Singh recently switched over to the BJP.
Earlier, in November last year, another close aide of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Harendra Malik along with his son and state Congress vice-president and former MLA Pankaj Malik had resigned from the party. The one thing that was common in most of the defections was the allegations of being sidelined and ignored in the Congress. Also, many senior Congress leaders have expressed their concern regarding the behaviour of people close to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.