Lucknow: As UP enters the last phase of the assembly election, former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has managed one more high profile induction for Samajwadi Party (SP). Today, while addressing a rally in Azamgarh, he announced that Mayank Joshi, son of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi, has joined his party, which is giving a tough fight to the incumbent BJP. Last month, Mayank Joshi had met Akhilesh Yadav, who tweeted a photo of Mayank Joshi meeting him and described it as an “informal meeting”.
After Mayank failed to secure a BJP ticket from Lucknow, talks of him joining the Samajwadi Party had been doing the rounds since February. However, Rita Bahuguna had dismissed the reports by saying, “The rumour of her son leaving the party was baseless.” Rita Bahuguna Joshi is the Lok Sabha MP from Prayagraj and was trying to secure a ticket for her son from the Lucknow Cantonment assembly seat. However, the BJP gave the ticket to Uttar Pradesh Minister Brijesh Pathak.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi was elected as MLA from Lucknow Cantonment on a Congress ticket in 2012. In 2017, assembly elections, she contested on a BJP ticket and defeated SP candidate Aparna Yadav, the younger daughter-in-law of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav. Also, Aparna Yadav recently joined the BJP. The elections for the 403 Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh are being held in seven phases since February 10th. The six phases of polling in Uttar Pradesh were held on February 10th, 14th, 20th, 23rd, 27th, and March 3rd and the last seventh phase of polling will be conducted on March 7th. The counting of votes will take place on March 10th.