Amethi (UP), Oct 13 Three rebel Samajwadi Party MLAs are set to join the BJP on Wednesday in the presence of party leader Smriti Irani and state president Pankaj Chaudhary, according to party functionaries.
MLA from Gauriganj (in Amethi) Rakesh Pratap Singh told reporters on Tuesday that a programme has been organised at the district headquarters here on October 14, where he would join the BJP along with Abhay Singh, MLA from Gosainganj (Ayodhya district), and Vinod Chaturvedi, MLA from Kalpi (Jalaun district).
Besides Irani and Chaudhary, state ministers Dara Singh Chauhan and Pratibha Shukla will join the event, BJP district president Sudhanshu Shukla said.
Rakesh Pratap Singh won the assembly elections from Gauriganj in 2012, 2017 and 2022.
In the 2022 polls, he defeated the BJP candidate, his closest rival, by 6,963 votes.
His differences with the SP widened after he voted for a BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections.
The SP expelled him from the party in June 2025, after which he remained an unattached member of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Explaining his differences with the SP, Singh said it had become difficult for him to continue in a party where, he alleged, questions were raised about the existence of Lord Ram and incidents involving the burning and tearing of the Ramcharitmanas took place.
He also alleged that caste and family interests were given priority over issues concerning the nation and society within the SP.
Referring to a statement he made at a religious gathering in Gauriganj around three years ago, Singh said he was clear in his position on the Ramcharitmanas and Sanatan Dharma, irrespective of the consequences for his assembly membership, party ticket, or political future.
Abhay Singh was first elected as MLA in 2012 and then in 2022. Vinod Chaturvedi won the MLA election in 2007 and 2022.
Meanwhile, Shukla said that Irani has named her residence in Medan Mawai, Gauriganj, ‘Madhav Bhawan’.
Irani, a former Union minister, was elected as Lok Sabha MP from Amethi in 2019. She lost the seat to Congress’s Kishori Lal Sharma in 2024.
(PTI News)
