More trouble for Akhilesh: SP founding member, others jump boat; join BJP

The desertions gathered esteem after Akhilesh displaced his father Mulayam as party president

Even as principal opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav is attempting to corner the Uttar Pradesh government over its purported failures on health and law and order issues, he is battling trouble in his own backyard.

Ashok Bajpai, a founding member of SP and a close aide of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, today formally joined ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of union home minister and Lucknow Member of Parliament (MP) Rajnath Singh.

Interestingly, Bajpai had fought Rajnath in the 2014 Lok Sabha election as SP candidate.

Besides, SP women wing former president Shweta Singh also joined the BJP,