Lucknow, Oct 14 (IANS) Three Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs, who had previously rebelled against the party, formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
The MLAs include Rakesh Pratap Singh (from Amethi’s Gauriganj), Abhay Singh (from Ayodhya’s Gosaiganj), and Vinod Chaturvedi (from Jalaun’s Kalpi). Their induction into the BJP signals significant development in the state’s politics ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
Uttar Pradesh BJP President Pankaj Chaudhary and the party’s National General Secretary Smriti Irani inducted the three MLAs into the party at an event held in Amethi.
They were welcomed and presented saffron stoles. Cabinet Minister Dara Singh Chauhan, National President of the ‘Pichhda Varg Morcha’ Amarpal Maurya, and several other senior party leaders, MLAs, and office-bearers were also present at the event.
After joining the BJP, Rakesh Pratap Singh expressed gratitude to his supporters. He stated that the people of his constituency had supported him and urged him to join the BJP. According to him, his supporters have assured him of their backing. He claimed that approximately 98 per cent of the people active at the booth level in his constituency would leave the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP.
Rakesh Pratap Singh also claimed that a large number of current and former public representatives would join the BJP along with him.
Earlier, he had indicated the likelihood of about 700 ‘Gram Pradhans’ (village heads), former ‘Gram Pradhans’, ‘Kshetra Panchayat’ members, former ‘Kshetra Panchayat’ members, and ‘Zila Panchayat’ members, joining the BJP with him. He further claimed that around a thousand current and former public representatives would come on board.
However, there has been no independent verification of the actual number of people who joined the BJP in line with these claims.
Singh, the MLA from Gauriganj, first entered the Legislative Assembly on an SP ticket in 2012. He subsequently won the Assembly elections in 2017 and 2022 as well.
Despite winning three consecutive elections, the distance between Singh and the SP leadership widened over the past few years. During the 2024 Rajya Sabha elections, he voted in favour of the BJP candidate. Following this, the SP expelled him from the party in June 2025.
Rakesh Pratap Singh had also taken a position contrary to the party leadership during controversies surrounding the ‘Ramcharitmanas’ and other issues. During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he had even campaigned for BJP candidate Smriti Irani in Amethi. Now, by formally joining the BJP, he has clarified his political future. Some members of his family had also joined the BJP earlier.
For the BJP, it will be crucial to integrate the political influence of these three MLAs into the organisation and foster coordination with local party workers.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party faces the challenge of retaining its traditional supporters and strengthening its organisational grip on the Assembly constituencies.
However, the extent to which the joining of the BJP by these three MLAs impacts the upcoming elections will depend on the actual participation of their supporters, the state of the local party organisation, and the political equations that emerge during the election.
–IANS
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