LUCKNOW In a boost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a fresh setback to the Samajwadi Party (SP) ahead of the 2027 UP Assembly elections, three rebel SP legislators joined the ruling party on Wednesday in the presence of Union minister and UP BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary and BJP national general secretary Smriti Irani.
The rebels were Manoj Kumar Pandey, Rakesh Pratap Singh, Abhay Singh, Vinod Chaturvedi, Rakesh Pandey, Pooja Pal and Ashutosh Maurya. Manoj Pandey subsequently joined the BJP and became a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government in May 2026 while Pooja Pal was appointed BJP state vice-president in June this year.
Taking a swipe at the SP, she said its bicycle had been punctured in the previous election and that the opposition should respect the people’s mandate rather than blame the Election Commission.
Addressing a public meeting after the induction ceremony at Gauriganj, Irani targeted the SP and Congress, accusing the opposition of questioning democratic institutions instead of accepting electoral verdicts and introspecting on its political failures. She questioned the Congress’s ability to lead the country when it was unable to win public confidence on its own and asked it to introspect on its political decline. He claimed they had been dissatisfied with the SP’s policies and political direction. He credited Irani with reaching out to people at the grassroots and working for the region’s development.
Targeting the Congress over dynastic politics, Irani said the opposition could bring several parties together to make its “yuvraj” a “shahenshah”, but the people’s verdict in UP would be determined by development, good governance and national interest. Chaudhary said the induction of the three legislators would strengthen the BJP organisation and lend fresh momentum to its development-oriented politics. He said Amethi and Rae Bareli were not the fiefdom of any political family and accused the Congress of failing to ensure adequate development in the two constituencies despite decades of political influence. Rakesh Pratap Singh described his induction as a “homecoming”, saying he had a longstanding association with the BJP. He said he had consulted supporters, workers and family members before taking the decision and that many workers who had earlier worked for the BJP at the booth level had joined him.
