Various news channels on Sunday flagged that Aparna Yadav, Samajwadi Party founder-patron Mulayam Singh's younger daughter-in-law, may jump ship and join hands ahead of the Uttar Pradesh State Assembly Elections scheduled in February and March.
According to sources, Aparna Yadav will join BJP in the presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev. Sources say that Aparna Yadav has been seen supporting the Uttar Pradesh government on multiple occasions and has also been spotted with Yogi Adityanath.
Who is Aparna Yadav?
Aparna Yadav is the former Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow Cantt. She contested against BJP's Dr. Rita Bahuguna Joshi and lost by a margin of 33,796 votes in the last state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. She is also married to Prateek Yadav, the stepbrother of SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav. The leader himself went to the election campaign of Aparna in the 2017 UP elections.
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Is Aparna Yadav inclined towards BJP?
In 2019, Aparna supported the National Register of Citizens (NRC), an open defiance to the Samajwadi Party's stance on the policy. She also lauded the Modi government for its Swachh Bharat Campaign and the abrogation of Article 370 in the past.
In the tweet, Aparna Yadav can be seen asking the question, "If someone belongs to India, what problem do they have to get registered in the roster?"
It shall also be noted that Aparna Yadav has a maiden surname, 'Bisht', the same as Yogi Adityanath (Ajay Kumar Bisht) belonging to the Kshatriya varna. Experts say that the Kshatriya vote bank is a loyal voter base the BJP can count on in Uttar Pradesh.
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Leaders have been quitting BJP and joining SP in Uttar Pradesh instead
If Aparna Yadav joins the Bharatiya Janata Party, it would be a major volley by the Saffron Party back to the socialists as multiple leaders from the ruling BJP government in Uttar Pradesh have recently quit the party to join the Samajwadi Party. The most surprising move out of these was the turncoat of a sitting UP Minister Swami Prasad Maurya. The influential OBC leader quit the party citing the "gross neglect" towards Dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small traders.
