Three BSP leaders likely to join Samajwadi Party ahead of 2022 UP polls

Bahujan Samaj Party might face another setback ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, as BSP leaders Vinay Shankar Tiwari, Kushal Tiwari and Ganesh Shankar Pandey might join the Samajwadi Party soon, sources said.

Sources say the three leaders met SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Saturday.

Vinay Shankar Tiwari, son of Hari Shankar Tiwari, is an MLA from Chillupar constituency whereas Ganesh Shankar Pandey was the chairman of the Legislative Council at the time of the BSP government.

"Joining date will be fixed after Jayant Chaudhary led-RLD and SP's joint rally in Meerut on December 7," said a source.

Earlier in October, six suspended BSP MLAs joined Samajwadi Party in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow.

These MLAs include Hargovind Bhargav, Mujtaba Siddiqui, Hakim Lal Bind, Aslam Raini, Sushma Patel and Aslam Chaudhary.

Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to go for Assembly polls in 2022.

Previously, in the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 312 seats out of the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly while Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won 19 and Congress could manage to win only seven seats. The rest of the seats were bagged by other candidates.

( With inputs from ANI )