Days after she parted ways with SP and joined BJP, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav Sunday started campaigning for the ruling party in Lucknow and said that she had joined the party for nationalism.
She was accompanied by Rae Bareli Sadar MLA Aditi Singh and Priyanka Maurya. Both Aditi and Priyanka had recently severed ties with Congress to join BJP.
The three along with Union Minister and BJP’s State Co-Incharge Anurag Thakur and Lucknow Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia also attended a programme organised at the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the party headquarters.
Talking to reporters at the party office, Aparna said, “I proudly say that the BJP is the party that protected this country and nurtured its sacraments. We all have joined this party due to nationalism. Our goal is protecting the nation. If we have to do something good for this country, we must bring the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh with full strength.”
Singh, who is contesting from Rae Bareli Sadar on a BJP ticket this time, said that women-centric schemes like Ujjawala Yojana and initiatives like construction of toilets and free ration distribution were never launched by the past governments in the state. “Almost 80 per cent of the schemes under the BJP government are being planned while considering the interests of women,” she said.
Maurya said that she will work with a new energy in the interest of the society and nation.
In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, Yadav had contested from the Lucknow Cantonment constituency as an SP candidate, but she lost to BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi. On Friday, Yadav had tweeted a photo of her meeting Mulayam to seek his blessings.
Carrying placards, the three women leaders also campaigned for the party near the Lucknow Municipal Corporation office in the Lalbagh area.
“As the Congress is running a women voters-centric campaign and the SP is targeting BJP on law and order, Aparna, Aditi and Priyanka have become the party’s faces to counter attack the opposition. They will campaign for BJP in different constituencies,” said a BJP leader.