Former Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Dara Singh Chauhan officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today, along with his supporters. The event took place in Lucknow and witnessed the presence of prominent BJP leaders, including the state party chief, Bhupendra Chaudhary, and the two deputy chief ministers, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak.

Chauhan’s decision to join the saffron party comes just two days after his resignation from the Uttar Pradesh assembly. Prior to his resignation, he had a crucial meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence in New Delhi. 

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The former SP MLA, who was part of the BJP before joining the SP in 2022, also served as a cabinet minister in the previous Yogi Adityanath-led state government from 2017 to 2022. During his tenure, Chauhan held the portfolios of Forests, Environment, and Animal Husbandry.

The formal induction of Dara Singh Chauhan into the BJP took place at around 12 pm, with both Deputy Chief Ministers and the state party chief in attendance. 

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Speaking at the event, Chauhan expressed his enthusiasm for the expansion of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under PM Modi’s leadership. He stated, “The enthusiasm seen in members of the Chauhan samaj indicates that NDA is expanding under the leadership of PM Modi. People have made up their minds to make Modi ji the PM again.”

Chauhan’s resignation as an MLA was submitted to Speaker Satish Mahana and confirmed by Uttar Pradesh Assembly Principal Secretary Pradeep Dubey. 

In his resignation letter, Chauhan did not mention any specific reasons for his decision to step down, leaving room for speculation within political circles.

The development comes just days after the SBSP, another estranged ally of the BJP, rejoined the NDA fold in Uttar Pradesh. The development assumed significance in view of the BJP’s parallel efforts to bring together smaller allies in order to plug the gaps ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
The developments are also being seen as an attempt by the BJP to rid the party of its image that it does not bother to take its allies along.