Dara Singh Chauhan, 3rd Ex-UP Minister To Quit BJP, Joins Samajwadi Party

Dara Singh Chauhan - one of nearly a dozen ex-BJP MLAs, including three ministers, to quit the party this week ahead of next month's election - joined Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party on Sunday.

Apna Dal MLA RK Verma, whose party is allied with the BJP, also joined the Samajwadi Party today.

"I welcome Dara Singh Chauhan, RK Verma. This (the 2022 election) is a fight with the double engine government in Delhi and Lucknow (a reference to the BJP in power at centre and state). They have only done 'politics of breaking'. We will focus on 'politics of development'," Mr Yadav said.

Mr Chauhan is possibly the last major opposition leader to be signed by Mr Yadav, who has now snapped up all three of the ministers who quit, after he declared yesterday "we will not take any more leaders". That was after seat-sharing talks with Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party broke down.