With just weeks to go for elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party lost another relative of its ruling Yadav family to the BJP. Just a day after SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law joined the BJP, his brother-in-law also donned saffron.
Pramod Gupta accused SP chief Akhilesh Yadav of sidelining true 'samajwadis' and surrounding himself with sycophants. "In Samajwadi Party, samajwadis are hated by Akhilesh Yadav. He has sidelined all of them in the party. He has surrounded himself by sycophants now. He doesn't like good people who are connected to the grassroots," he said. He also hailed the BJP's policies and commended Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'clean image'.
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While inducting Gupta, BJP leader Laxmikant Bajpai listed the other members of the Yadav clan who have joined the saffron party. "I would like to remind you that Mulayam Singh Yadav's relative Hariom Yadav, and his daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav have joined BJP. Today his brother-in-law Pramod Gupta has joined the BJP family," he said.
Reacting to the news, Akhilesh Yadav thanked the BJP with a sardonic comment on the latter's nepotism allegations against the SP. "BJP accuses SP of nepotism and dynasty politics. At least they are ending this family politics in SP. I thank them for this," he said.
Ahead of BJP's spree of inducting Yadav family members, the ruling party lost a host of influential OBC leaders to the SP. These included ministers in the Yogi Cabinet, like Swami Prasad Maurya.
Uttar Pradesh will vote in 7 phases, starting from February 10. Results will be announced on March 10.