Summary:
Lucknow, Nov 17 (PTI) In a boost for the Uttar Pradesh BJP ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls, four sitting MLCs of the SP joined the saffron party here on Wednesday.
"The four sitting SP MLCs (Member of Legislative Council) who have joined the BJP are Ravi Shankar Singh alias Pappu Bhaiyya, Narendra Singh Bhati, C P Chand and Rama Niranjan," Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said.
In a tweet in Hindi, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said, "Influenced by the various public welfare policies of the BJP, four SP MLCs have joined the BJP." The MLCs joined the BJP in the presence of Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and state BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh.
Swatantra Dev Singh in a tweet in Hindi said the four MLCs were impressed by the welfare policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Speaking to reporters, Ravi Shankar Singh said he wanted to join the saffron party ever since Neeraj Shekhar, son of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, resigned from the Samajwadi Party and as Rajya Sabha member in July 2019 and joined the BJP.
Ravi Shankar Singh is the grandson of Chandra Shekhar.