Union minister Anurag Thakur took a jibe at the Samajwadi Party after Aparna Yadav joined the BJP Wednesday, saying SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law and its leader Swami Prasad Maurya's daughter believe the BJP’s rule is safe for women.
Sanghmitra, daughter of Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently quit the BJP to join the SP, is a BJP MP and has said she will not leave it.
"Even Maurya's daughter and Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law believe that 'bahu-betis' are safe in the BJP," Thakur, a BJP co-incharge for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, told reporters.
Asked about Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav potentially contesting the assembly elections, the BJP leader claimed there has been a lot of opposition within the SP and its allies over the names in the first list of candidates for the polls.
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The kind of people given tickets have drawn a lot of flak, he said.
The BJP has alleged that the SP-RLD list carries a number of people facing serious criminal charges.
Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet briefing here, Thakur said Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law joining the BJP proves that women and daughters feel safe and secure under the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.
"The examples are clear, be it daughters or daughters-in-law, they are safe in the BJP. Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law are examples in this regard.
"They both feel secure in the BJP, because in Uttar Pradesh women and daughters in 25 crore population of Uttar Pradesh feel safe under Yogi and Modi governments," Thakur said.
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He said that in the past few days, a number of MLAs, MLCs and former MLAs of Samajwadi party as well as other parties have joined the BJP and they are welcomed in the party fold as this will strengthen the BJP.
Aparna Yadav joined the BJP on Wednesday, asserting that she has always been impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's work.
She joined the party in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and its state chief Swatantra Dev Singh.
Aparna Yadav is married to Prateek Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav's second wife, while SP president Akhilesh Yadav is his son from the first marriage.
The BJP is seeking to retain power in Uttar Pradesh in the seven phased assembly election starting February 10 to March 7.
