UP polls: Nearly 6 opposition MLCs likely to join BJP today; setback looms for SP & BSP

In a big boost for BJP ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, at least 6 opposition MLCs belonging to SP and BSP are likely to jump ship to the saffron party on Wednesday. At present, SP is the single-largest party in the 100-member UP Legislative Council with 48 seats followed by BJP and BSP that have 36 and 6 MLCs respectively. SP's Ravi Shankar Singh 'Pappu' who is late PM Chandra Shekhar's nephew, CP Chand and Raja Bhaiyya's cousin Akshay Pratap Singh and BSP's Brijesh Kumar Singh 'Princu' and Narendra Bhati are among the MLCS likely to switch their alliance to BJP, sources told Republic TV.

Their possible induction in the JP Nadda-led party is being perceived as a setback to SP and BSP that are seeking a return to power in UP. As per sources, one of the members of BJP's newly constituted joining committee is actively involved in ensuring that leaders from other parties join the saffron party. Headed by Laxmikant Bajpai, the panel comprising UP Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and state unit vice-president Dayashankar Singh screens the names of the leaders who wish to take BJP membership ahead of the election. 

BJP seeks to retain power in UP

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP had won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. While this was seen as a mandate for PM Modi as BJP had not declared any CM candidate, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise pick for the post. Though some BJP leaders made conflicting statements over Adityanath's future as the Chief Minister, PM Modi put rest to all speculations by lauding UP's governance model during his successive visits to the state.

Leaving no stone unturned for the 2022 Assembly election, BJP appointed Dharmendra Pradhan as its election in-charge and Anurag Thakur, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Shobha Karandlaje, Annapurna Devi, Saroj Pandey and Vivek Thakur as the co-in-charges. Meanwhile, Sanjay Bhatia, Sanjeev Chaurasiya, Y Satya Kumar, Sudhir Gupta, Arvind Menon and Sunil Oza were named as the organizational in-charges of Western UP, Braj, Awadh, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Kashi. On September 24, BJP formally announced an alliance with the Nishad Party and Apna Dal(S).

Levelling the 'nepotism' charge at the opposition while inaugurating the Purvanchal expressway on Tuesday, PM Modi remarked, "I used to be surprised by the situation 7-8 yrs back. I used to wonder why some people were punishing UP? Previously both in Delhi and Lucknow, nepotism was only seen. But in 2014, by giving a thumping majority, you gave Yogi Ji and Modi Ji a chance to serve you both together and see the development work being done in UP today."