The atmosphere is beginning to build up for the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh with political weather cocks starting to switch sides.
Former Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Jitendra Singh Bablu, the prime accused in the torching of the house of former UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh along with other leaders here on Wednesday.
Jitendra Singh Bablu was MLA from Ayodhya district.
Presently Rita Bahuguna Joshi is the BJP MP from Allahabad. The incident happened in 2009 when BSP president Mayawati was the chief minister of the state and Joshi was UP Congress president.
In July 16, 2009 the house of Rita Bahuguna Joshi was set afire after she gave a statement against the then Chief Minister Mayawati. Close to midnight a group of masked men stormed into the house, raising slogans against Joshi. Eyewitnesses had claimed that they were armed with iron rods, sticks and petrol cans. They went about breaking everything before sprinkling petrol and throwing a matchstick to set the house ablaze. The fire raged for nearly two hours and several policemen were there but they remained mute spectators.
Joshi had claimed that BSP legislator Jitendra Bablu had led that attack. His picture was also carried by local media.
Reacting to Bablu joining BJP, Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that he might have misled the BJP leaders.
“I will speak to party national president JP Nadda and state party president Swatantra dev Singh and tell them the true story,” she said.
Among others who joined the BJP are: ex-Congress vice-president Pankaj Mohan Sonkar (Azamgarh), former BSP coordinator Manoj Sharma (Ghaziabad), BSP leader Prakash Singh (Rae Bareli), Air Commodore (Retired) Shyam Shanker Tiwari and social worker Dr Bina Lavania of Agra.