Up Bypoll : U.P Cong, BSP leaders join SP

Lucknow, Nov 9 : Opposition parties Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh appear to be losing their key leaders to rival Samajwadi Party (SP).

Former MP Bal Kumar Patel, who had had been nominated to the UP Congress Outreach Committee in September, quit the party and joined the SP on Monday.

Patel is the brother of dacoit Dadua and had left the SP to join Congress last year. “It is a homecoming for me,” he said.

Another Congress leader who quit the party to join the SP is former MP Qaiser Jahan. Her husband Jasmine Ansari also left the Congress and joined the SP.

Former BSP MP Kailash Yadav also quit the party and joined the SP along with former MLA Ram Kumar Patel.

SP President Akhilesh Yadav welcomed the new leaders to his party and said their decision to join the SP was a clear indication of which way the wind is blowing.

The leaders who joined the party on Monday would further strengthen the fight against the ruling BJP and pave the way for a change in 2022 UP elections.

IANS