Former Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav on Wednesday joined the BJP in a big blow
to the Samajwadi Party ahead of the assembly elections in the state.

BJP’s Haryana
in-charge Arun Yadav claimed in a tweet on Tuesday night that Aparna Yadav will
join the BJP on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. “Aparna
Yadav, wife of Mulayam Singh’s younger son Prateek Yadav, is going to join BJP
tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10 am in the presence of Yogi ji,” he tweeted.

Aparna Yadav
contested the 2017 elections from Lucknow Cantt on a Samajwadi party ticket.
She lost to Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP.

This comes
after a series of setbacks for the BJP in the form of high-profile exits ahead of
the assembly polls. The ruling party has lost three ministers and a number of MLAs
to the Samajwadi Party, which has emerged as the key challenger to the BJP.

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Swami
Prasad Maurya, Dharam Singh Saini, and Dara Singh Chauhan are the three former
UP cabinet ministers that have joined the SP, along with MLAs Vinay Shakya,
Roshan Lal Verma, Mukesh Verma, and Bhagwati Sagar.

The Akhilesh
Yadav-led party has also received the backing of several other opposition
parties, including Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Sharad Pawar’s
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which are projecting a united front in light
of the 2024 general elections.

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The UP
assembly elections are said to be a key test ahead of the 2024 elections, as
the state sends the highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha. UP will vote for a
new government in seven phases from February 10 to March 7, with the results
set to be declared on March 10.