UP Election 2022: Who is Aparna Yadav? Mulayam Singh Yadav's 'chhoti bahu', now with BJP

In the season of political party hopping in Uttar Pradesh, this one is very embarrassing for the Samajwadi Party.

Mulayam Singh Yadav's "chhoti bahu" Aparna Yadav has joined the BJP. Aparna joined the BJP on Wednesday at the party headquarters in Delhi.

Who is Aparna Yadav?

Aparna Yadav is married to Mulayam's younger son Prateek. She had contested from Lucknow Cantt assembly seat in the 2017 state assembly elections, but lost the election to BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

Reports also said that Aparna may be fielded from Lucknow Cantt on a BJP ticket.

Aparna Yadav has in the past praised several initiatives of the BJP government. She has also openly disagreed with SP policies and Akhilesh Yadav on issues such as the NRC and Ram Mandir. She also donated Rs 11 lakh to the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Aparna had also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his handling of Covid pandemic.

Aparna Yadav has never been on good terms with Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple.

Speculation regarding her closeness to the BJP has been around for a while. In 2020, the Yogi Adityanath government had provided 'Y' category security, which was dubbed by Akhilesh Yadav as a BJP "tactic".

Aparna has a Masters degree in International Relations from UK's Manchester University. She is also a trained classical dancer. Aparna runs an NGO named 'Bhawre', which works on women's issues.

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