Union minister Anurag Thakur took a jibe at the Samajwadi Party after Aparna Yadav joined the BJP Wednesday, saying SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law and its leader Swami Prasad Maurya's daughter believe the BJP's rule is safe for women.
Sanghmitra, daughter of Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently quit the BJP to join the SP, is a BJP MP and has said she will not leave it.
"Even Maurya's daughter and Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law believe that 'bahu-betis' are safe in the BJP," Thakur, a BJP co-incharge for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, told reporters.
Asked about Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav potentially contesting the assembly elections, the BJP leader claimed there has been a lot of opposition within the SP and its allies over the names in the first list of candidates for the polls.
The kind of people given tickets have drawn a lot of flak, he said.
The BJP has alleged that the SP-RLD list carries a number of people facing serious criminal charges.
Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet briefing here, Thakur said Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law joining the BJP proves that women and daughters feel safe and secure under the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.
"The examples are clear, be it daughters or daughters-in-law, they are safe in the BJP. Swami Prasad Maurya's daughter and Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law are examples in this regard.
"They both feel secure in the BJP, because in Uttar Pradesh women and daughters in 25 crore population of Uttar Pradesh feel safe under Yogi and Modi governments," Thakur said.
He said that in the past few days, a number of MLAs, MLCs and former MLAs of Samajwadi party as well as other parties have joined the BJP and they are welcomed in the party fold as this will strengthen the BJP.
Aparna Yadav joined the BJP on Wednesday, asserting that she has always been impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's work.
She joined the party in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and its state chief Swatantra Dev Singh.
Aparna Yadav is married to Prateek Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav's second wife, while SP president Akhilesh Yadav is his son from the first marriage.
The BJP is seeking to retain power in Uttar Pradesh in the seven phased assembly election starting February 10 to March 7.
There had been much speculation about Aparna joining the BJP, and the development highlights the rift in the SP's ruling family at a time when Akhilesh Yadav has been working to rally the party's base in the run up to the state assembly polls.
Maurya was quick to attack Akhilesh Yadav, saying he has not been successful in his family and was also "unsuccessful" as chief minister and MP.
Maurya took a jibe at him, saying the SP leader always stakes claim over development works carried out by the BJP government but is unable to have courage to fight from any place which he has "developed".
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav tried hard to convince his daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav to not join the BJP, party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Wednesday and expressed his happiness that the SP's socialist ideology is expanding its reach.
Akhilesh who sent his sister-in-law best wishes for her move to the BJP, also addressed speculation on whether he would contest the assembly elections and said he would consult the people of his parliamentary constituency Azamgarh.
If I contest the assembly election, it will be after taking permission from the people of Azamgarh who have elected me as MP," he told reporters when asked if he would enter into the electoral fray for the coming elections.
In his first response to Aparna Yadav joining the BJP, Akhilesh Yadav said he would like to congratulate her and extend her his best wishes.
