Lucknow, Nov 16 About ten members of the Uttar Pradesh legislative council, belonging to the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, will be joining the BJP soon.
All of them are Vidhan Parishad members, elected through local bodies, and their terms are coming to an end in March next year.
The names of these ten leaders have been cleared by the newly constituted joining committee of the Uttar Pradesh BJP, according to party sources.
All these leaders wield considerable influence in their respective areas and with support from the BJP, they will manage a comfortable reelection next year.
In the list that has been cleared for induction into the BJP, the most prominent name is that of Ravi Shankar Singh Pappu who is presently in the Samajwadi Party.
He is the nephew of former Prime Minister late Chandra Shekhar.
It may be recalled that late Chandra Shekhar's son Neeraj Shekhar has already joined the BJP.
Former Minister Markanday Chand's son, C.P. Chand is also joining the BJP.
Akshay Pratap Singh, a cousin of former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh a.k.a. Raja Bhaiyya, is also quitting the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP.
BSP MLC from Jaunpur Brijesh Singh 'Princu' is also changing loyalties to join the BJP. He is considered close to former BSP MP Dhananjay Singh.
Interestingly, most of the leaders joining the BJP belong to the Thakur community.
Their joining the BJP is expected to give a major boost to the ruling party which had faced reverses in the panchayat elections held earlier this year.
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