Former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister and prominent OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Friday joined the Samajwadi Party along with another rebel minister Dharam Singh Saini. Five BJP MLAs and Apna Dal (Sonelal) legislator Amar Singh Chaudhary also joined the SP in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav.
The BJP, on the other hand, has finalised its first of 172 candidates amid a series of defections which included three state Cabinet ministers – Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini – who are ready to jump the ship to the Samajwadi Party. At least eight MLAs have also quit the party this week – all belonging to the OBC community – and are set to join SP and RLD.
Former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister and prominent OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Friday joined the Samajwadi Party along with another rebel minister Dharam Singh Saini.
Five BJP MLAs and Apna Dal (Sonelal) legislator Amar Singh Chaudhary also joined the SP in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav. The five BJP MLAs who joined the SP are Bhagwati Sagar (Bilhaur in Kanpur), Roshanlal Verma (Tilhar in Shahjahanpur), Vinay Shakya (Bidhuna in Auraiya), Brijesh Prajapati (Tindwari in Bahraich) and Mukesh Verma (Shikohabad in Firozabad). Chaudhary is MLA from Shohratgarh.
Swami Prasad Maurya says the BJP leaders are having sleepless nights ever since he, along with two other ministers and several MLAs, quit the party.
Former BJP minister Swami Prasad Maurya, several rebel MLAs joins Samajwadi Party in presence of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Budget session of Parliament to start on January 31
The Indian Express quoted sources saying that eight of the nine rebel BJP MLAs, who quit the party after Swami Party Maurya's exit this week, are set to join the Samajwadi Party today.
Resignations are not a big deal in Uttar Pradesh. BJP is getting support from everywhere in the state. People will bless us and BJP will be successful in forming govt in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur: Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar
Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi is likely to contest from two seats in the upcoming state assembly elections as the Congress finalised the list of over 70 candidates for the polls late on Thursday.
UP Elections: SP-RLD announces names of 29 candidates
https://twitter.com/samajwadiparty/status/1481622377167736832
We've decided to contest elections with Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. One seat has been announced and talks are on for other seats. We will support the alliance which is forming in UP: NCP leader & Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Thursday announced two candidates, including former Congressman Imran Masood’s brother, for western Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming polls. In a tweet, the BSP chief announced Salman Sayeed as the party’s candidate from Charthawal and Noman Masood from Gangoh Assembly constituencies.
In the first list of 125 candidates for UP polls, 50 candidates are women, including Asha Singh, mother of the Unnao rape victim. From Shahjahanpur, we have fielded Asha worker Poonam Pandey who led an agitation for a raise in honorarium: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
The meeting of BJP's Central Election Committee is underway to finalise candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. Union Ministers Amit Shah, Anurag Thakur, Dharmendra Pradhan, and UP CM Yogi Adityanath are among the attendees. PM Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will join the meet virtually.
Shiv Sena will not be part of any alliance in UP. We have ideological differences with Samajwadi Party but we want a change in the state. We have been working for a long time in UP but didn't contest elections because we didn't want to hurt BJP: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut.
Raut had yesterday announced that the party will contest 50-100 seats in UP polls and he will visiting western UP on Thursday.
OP Rajbhar, a former ally of the BJP who has now hands with the Samajwadi Party, told Hindustan Times that BJP is the enemy of OBCs and that more leaders will quit the party. A key OBC leader himself, Rajbhar said that keeping its OBC base intact will be a challenge for the BJP.
The Congress on Thursday finalised the names of its candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab at a meeting of the Central Election Committee held under the leadership of party chief Sonia Gandhi. Sources said the meeting, held virtually, discussed all the party candidates but did not release the list on Thursday.
