Former SP leader Shalini Yadav, who contested from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in 2019, against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday. She joined the party in the presence of UP BJP President Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.
“Diligent workers were not being heard (in Samajwadi Party). This was one of the reasons behind their defeat in the (UP Assembly) elections,” Shalini told PTI after joining the BJP.
Yadav is the daughter-in-law of late Shyamlal Yadav, former Congress MP from Varanasi and deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha. She joined the Samajwadi Party in 2019.
During her first parliamentary election in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Shalini contested from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat against PM Modi but was defeated by a margin of over 4.75 lakh votes.