Dharmendra Kumar Kashyap recently joined the Samajwadi Party after not being nominated for the Rajya Sabha (File photo)
After the BJP announced its list, Kashyap posted a picture of a sunset by the sea on Facebook on October 7, accompanied by the words “Tata Bye-Bye”.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav welcomed the OBC leader into the party, news agency PTI reported. Kashyap, a former minister, had been hopeful of securing a Rajya Sabha ticket from the BJP but was not included in the party’s list of candidates, PTI reported, according to sources.
Addressing a press conference alongside Yadav, Kashyap claimed that people in Uttar Pradesh were fed up with the BJP government because of its “poor” law and order situation. Yadav said Kashyap’s entry would strengthen the SP. He also alleged that chief minister Yogi Adityanath ’s bulldozer action did not target people from his caste and was directed at the poor. The BJP fielded state minister Dharampal Singh and Shruti Gangwar, daughter of former Union minister and former Jharkhand governor Santosh Gangwar, from Bareilly district.