Aparna Yadav, Samajwadi Party supremo’s Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
After she was inducted into the BJP, Aparna Yadav said she joined the party to serve the nation. Aparna Yadav said that she was influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies.
“I have always been profoundly, in fact, indelibly impressed by whatever our honourable Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] and honourable Chief Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath have said, whatever their policies are, I think I adhere to it, I abide by them…I joined this party so that I can serve my nation better,” Aparna Yadav said.
Aparna Yadav is married to Prateek Yadav, the half-brother of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav. Prateek Yadav is the son of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s second wife. Akhilesh Yadav is his son from the first marriage.
Aparna Yadav’s father Arvind Singh Bisht is a journalist. Her mother is an officer in the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.
Aparna Yadav is an alumnus of Loreto Convent School, Lucknow. She completed her Masters in International Relations and Politics from Manchester University, UK.
Aparna Yadav contested her first election in 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. She contested on an SP ticket from Lucknow Cantonment constituency. She lost to BJP candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi by a margin of 33,796 votes.
Apart from being a politician, Aparna Yadav is a trained classical singer. She studied classical music for nine years at Bhatkhande Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Lucknow.
She asserts her interest in social and public work. She runs an organisation that works for women’s rights and empowerment.
Reports say Aparna Yadav was inclined to contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh election from the Lucknow Cantonment seat in assembly constituency. Akhilesh Yadav was apparently not inclined to field a family member in the Uttar Pradesh election which forced Aparna Yadav to make a move to cross over to the BJP.
However, it is yet not clear from where Aparna Yadav will fight the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election after joining the BJP. Aparna Yadav said the BJP leadership would now decide the seat on which she contests the 2022 polls.
Aparna Yadav’s induction into the BJP, just ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls, came as a big blow to the Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav, who patched up with his estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav to consolidate his party and family’s support base.
Lucknow Cantt seat is said to be BJP’s stronghold. In 2017, the BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi had won the UP election. After this, Suresh Tiwari of BJP became the MLA in the by-election.
Lucknow Cantt is a Brahmin-dominated area. Every constituency has at least 1 lakh Brahmin voters. Sindhi-Punjabi voters are second dominant community in the area while Muslims are around 25,000 in number.
There are 20,000 voters from the Yadav community and 15,000 voters from the Thakur community in the constituency.
