Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) parliamentarian Arvind Chaudhary and former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Deputy Superintendent of Police Anil Yadav joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Lucknow on Wednesday, November 11, news agency IANS reported. The two were formally inducted at the party headquarters in the presence of Uttar Pradesh BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary and other senior leaders.

Source: IANS via The Rahnuma Daily

Arvind Chaudhary is a former MP from Basti and the nephew of sitting Samajwadi Party MP Ram Prasad Chaudhary. He had earlier left the BSP and joined the Samajwadi Party in 2020. Yadav, described by IANS as a Banda-based SP leader, is a former CBI deputy superintendent. Scores of supporters of the two leaders also joined the BJP along with them, according to the IANS report.

Source: Devdiscourse

Speaking at the induction, BJP state president Pankaj Chaudhary — who is also a Union Minister of State for Finance — said the joining of the two leaders would infuse the organisation with new energy and strength, and pledged the party's full support to them, IANS reported.

The defections come months ahead of the high-stakes 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, in which the ruling BJP faces the Samajwadi Party as its principal challenger. IANS described the development as a major setback to the SP, as the BJP continues to induct leaders from opposition parties in the run-up to the polls.

Neither the Samajwadi Party nor Arvind Chaudhary's uncle, SP MP Ram Prasad Chaudhary, had issued a public reaction to the switch at the time of reporting.