Not joining BJP, says Mulayam’s ‘chhoti bahu’
LUCKNOW: Aparna Yadav, the younger daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, has said speculations that she may join the BJP are “totally baseless”.
The rumours were triggered after Aparna’s meetings with Uttar Pradesh’s new chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
Aparna and her husband Prateek Yadav, the younger son of Mulayam, first met Adityanath two days after he became the chief minister. The couple was then seen with the chief minister during his cow shelter visit in Lucknow.
“People just talk; all the more when a woman tries to do something worthwhile. Before I met Yogiji, Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and Bhaiya (Akhilesh Yadav) attended his swearing-in and met him. I had met Yogiji even before. There’s nothing new about me meeting him,” Aparna said on Thursday.
The 26-year-old was the SP’s candidate from the Lucknow Cantonment constituency and lost the election to BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi.
Aparna said she was caught in the crossfire during the Yadav family feud or else, she would have won.
“I often say my boat sank when the shore was in sight ... The wounds inflicted by our own are far deeper. But I fought well. I contested the seat from where Samajwadi Party had never won an election,” she said.
Aparna was the first member of the Yadav family who was not fielded from the family’s pocket borough and also the first one who was given a seat the party never won.
Aparna on Sunday held a ‘thanksgiving’ meeting in Lucknow Cantonment.
“I told the people that I was not the one who would blame EVMs (electronic voting machines) for my defeat. I lost because I got hardly any support from the party. Only one leader, Ashok Bajpai, was with me frequently. At booth level, there was no party support,” she said.
Shortly after the BJP’s massive victory in UP last month, BSP chief Mayawati had alleged that the EVMs were fudged.
The SP along with Congress and Aam Aadmi Party echoed the allegations. Aparna, however, said the matter should be investigated.