BY MOHAMMAD TARIQUE SALEEM
In a significant demonstration of shifting political allegiances in Uttar Pradesh, dozens of prominent and influential leaders, accompanied by their substantial cadres of supporters, formally aligned themselves with the Samajwadi Party on Friday. The leaders, who previously belonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Azad Samaj Party, Nishad Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal, expressed their firm conviction in the leadership of Samajwadi Party National President and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, as well as in the ideological and policy framework of the party.
Among the notable entrants were former Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Rajpal Saini; Vidup Agrahari, son of the late former Member of Parliament Shyamacharan Gupta; Ravi Pratap Singh, Vice-President of the Kshatriya Mahasabha Bareilly Division and a resident of Budaun who had earlier been associated with the BJP; Harveer Malik of Shamli, a member of the BJP’s State Working Committee; Shane Ali, son of former minister Riyaz Ahmed and a previous Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from the Pilibhit Assembly constituency.
Thakur Nand Kishore Pundir, who had contested the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket; Kamal Gautam, the Azad Samaj Party’s Western Uttar Pradesh in-charge; Shokendra Acharya of the Nishad Party from Shamli; and several leaders from the Rashtriya Lok Dal, including Sanjeev Pradhan, Rajendra Malik, Bijendra Malik and Shubham Malik, all of Shamli. Rajendra Singh of Shamli and Sivan Saini, formerly associated with the Khatauli Assembly constituency, also took the Samajwadi Party membership.
Addressing the gathering, Akhilesh Yadav extended a warm welcome and expressed gratitude to the newly inducted leaders, workers and their associates. He emphasised that the strength of the PDA family would grow in direct proportion to the affection, compassion and sense of belonging that members cultivated among themselves.
Yadav observed that the day’s entrants included not only established political figures but also members of the Pal, Kashyap, Prajapati and Dalit communities, underscoring the party’s expanding social base. “People from every section of society are joining the Samajwadi Party, thereby augmenting its organisational strength. We extend the warmest welcome to both long-standing and newly arrived colleagues. The influx of leaders has only just begun,” he stated.
Samajwadi Party National General Secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav noted that influential personalities from numerous districts across the state had been joining the party for several consecutive days. He declared that the Samajwadi Party’s caravan was advancing with accelerating momentum and predicted that in 2027 the people of Uttar Pradesh, farmers, the poor and the youth, would install a government under Akhilesh Yadav’s leadership. He specifically welcomed former Member of Parliament Rajpal Saini and all other new entrants.
Muzaffarnagar Member of Parliament Harendra Malik asserted that the working class, the PDA communities, farmers, youth and students of Uttar Pradesh were looking towards the Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav with renewed hope. He reminded the audience that Yadav had earlier provided a bonus of fifty rupees per quintal to sugarcane farmers—a measure that the cultivators of Western Uttar Pradesh would never forget. Malik predicted that the working and farming communities of the region would ensure the largest number of seats for the Samajwadi Party in the forthcoming elections.
Kairana Member of Parliament Iqra Hasan observed that under the present Bharatiya Janata Party government, farmers, students, youth, labourers and traders were experiencing widespread distress. She maintained that the PDA and farming communities were uniting against what she described as injustice and oppression. Hasan expressed confidence that Western Uttar Pradesh would deliver the maximum number of seats, enabling the formation of a Samajwadi Party government under Akhilesh Yadav’s stewardship.
Former Member of Parliament Rajpal Saini declared that the public had grown weary of the Bharatiya Janata Party administration and that Akhilesh Yadav was poised to return as Chief Minister. The occasion was also attended by district presidents including Dharmesh Gangwar of Pilibhit, Ashish Yadav of Budaun, Zia Chaudhary of Muzaffarnagar, Karmveer Singh Gumi of Meerut, Faisal Hussain of Ghaziabad, Matlab Ali of Bulandshahr, and Anand Gurjar alias Babloo Pradhan of Hapur, reflecting the party’s organisational consolidation across Western and Central Uttar Pradesh.
