Lucknow: In a blow to the Samajwadi Party, former MLA Pramod Gupta, a brother-in-law of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, joined the BJP here on Thursday. Another person who joined the Uttar Pradesh ruling party is Congress poster girl Dr. Priyanka Maurya.
On Wednesday, Aparna Yadav, youngest daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav, joined the BJP in New Delhi. Gupta was MLA from Auraiya from the Samajwadi Party in 2012.
Others who joined the BJP on Thursday were Ayodhya folk singer Vandana Mishra and BSP candidate from Govind Nagar in Kanpur Sunil Shukla.
After joining the BJP, Gupta accused Akhilesh Yadav of taking Mulayam Singh Yadav hostage.
"Mulayam Singh has become old. Neither Akhilesh listens to him nor does anyone in the party listen. Akhilesh has made Mulayam cry a lot," he said.
Gupta claimed that around 20 SP MLAs were ready to join the BJP. (UNI)