SP, BSP MLCs join BJP ahead of assembly polls in UP
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About ten members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative council will be joining the BJP, informed sources. The ten, belonging to the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, are Vidhan Parishad members who were elected through local bodies. Their terms shall come to an end in March next year.
The newly constituted joining committee of the Uttar Pradesh BJP have cleared the names of these ten people, said party sources.
Wielding considering influence in their respective areas, they will manage comfortable re-election the following year with the support of the BJP.
Samajwadi Party leader Ravi Shankar Singh Pappu, nephew to former Prime Minister late Chandra Shekhar, is the most prominent name in the list. Chandra Shekhar's son Neeraj Shekhar is also part of the BJP.
Former Minister Markanday Chand's son CP Chand, cousin of former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiyya Akshay Pratap Singh, and BSP MLC from Jaunpur and close friend to former BSP MP Dhananjay Singh Brijesh Singh Princu are also joining the BJP. Most of them belong to the Thakur community.
The new joiners to the saffron party are expected to give it a major boost and counter the reverses it faces in the panchayat elections held earlier this year.