Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s sister-in-law Aparna Yadav joined the BJP on Wednesday ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Aparna Yadav, daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
After joining BJP, Aparna Yadav said that she has joined the party to serve the country. Aparna Yadav said that she was influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies.
“Whatever our Honorable Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] and Honorable Chief Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath have said, whatever their policies are, I think I follow it, I follow them, I always deeply I am impressed… I joined this party so that I can serve my country better,” Aparna Yadav said in an exclusive interview to India Today.
Who is Aparna Yadav?
Aparna Yadav is married to Prateek Yadav, half-brother of Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav. Prateek Yadav is the son of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s second wife. Akhilesh Yadav is his son from his first marriage.
Aparna Yadav’s father Arvind Singh Bisht is a journalist. His mother is an officer in the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.
Aparna Yadav is an alumnus of Loreto Convent School, Lucknow. She completed her Masters in International Relations and Politics from Manchester University, UK.
Aparna and Prateek got engaged in 2010. They got married in December 2011.
Aparna Yadav, is a politician, and singer. Mulayam Singh’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav joins BJP as she was always influenced by PM Modi.
Aparna Yadav contested her first election in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election. He contested from Lucknow Cantonment constituency on SP ticket. She lost to BJP candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi by a margin of 33,796 votes.
Aparna Yadav is a politician as well as a trained classical singer. He studied classical music for nine years at Bhatkhande Sangeet University, Lucknow.
She emphasizes her interest in social and public works. She runs an organization that works for women’s rights and empowerment.
Why did Aparna Yadav join BJP?
Reports said that Aparna Yadav was keen to contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections from the Lucknow Cantonment assembly constituency. Akhilesh Yadav apparently did not want to field a family member in the Uttar Pradesh election, which forced Aparna Yadav to join the BJP.
However, it is not clear from where Aparna Yadav will contest the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections after joining the BJP. Aparna Yadav said that the BJP leadership will now decide the seat on which she will contest the 2022 elections.
Aparna Yadav’s joining the BJP just ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections was a major setback for the Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav, who struck a deal with her estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav to strengthen the support base of their party and family.
Lucknow Cantt seat BJP stronghold
Lucknow Cantt’s seat is said to be a stronghold of BJP. In the 2017 UP elections, BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi had won. After this, Suresh Tiwari of BJP became MLA in the by-election.
Lucknow Cantt is a Brahmin-dominated area. There are at least 1 lakh Brahmin voters in each constituency. Sindhi-Punjabi voters are the second major community in the region while Muslims number around 25,000.
There are 20,000 voters of the Yadav community and 15,000 voters of the Thakur community in this constituency.