RE-ENTRY OF DHARAM SINGH SAINI INTO BJP STALLED

LUCKNOW: The anticipated re-entry of Samajwadi Party’s OBC leader from west UP Dharam Singh Saini into the BJP didn’t take place on Wednesday.

The buzz was that Saini, who quit the Yogi government on January 13 to join the Samajwadi Party after announcement of the 2022 UP polls, would re-join the BJP in chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s presence at a public meeting in Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar on Wednesday.

However, Saini’s re-joining couldn’t take place. Saini is a four-time lawmaker who lost the 2022 UP poll from Nakur assembly segment of Saharanpur by a wafer-thin margin of about 315 votes,

Some local leaders claimed that the re-joining may take place in Meerut happen in a couple of days.

Many local leaders claimed that Saini had set out for Khatauli but his motorcade had to stop soon after leaving Saharanpur as the BJP high command didn’t clear the re-joining.

Some local leaders claimed that the last-minute stalling of re-joining may even have something to do with the CBI probe that the Yogi government had recommended into the Ayush admission scam.

Saini, who joined the BJP from BSP, was the Ayush minister in the BJP government during 2017-2022.

While Saini was absent from Yogi Adityanath’s stage, two independents announced support for the BJP in Khatauli. These included Ravindra Thakur and Pradeep Thakur.

“I thank them as well as Chaudhary Yashveer Singh, Abhishek Chaudhary and Bhopal Singh Gurjar for supporting the BJP candidate,” Yogi Adityanath said.

On Friday, Adityanath is expected to address two public rallies in Mainpuri and Rampur, both bypoll- bound seats.

“Let’s see. People are joining of their own sweet will as they realise that only the BJP government can truly take care of their issues,” some BJP leaders said.