Ex-Samajwadi Party MLA And OBC Leader Dara Singh Chauhan Joins BJP, Calls It 'Ghar Wapsi'

Lucknow: OBC leader and former Samajwadi Party MLA Dara Singh Chauhan on Monday joined the BJP at the party office here, giving a boost to the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the general elections early next year. Chauhan joined the saffron party in the presence of UP Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, ministers Girish Yadav and Baldev Singh Aulakh and state BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary.

Speaking on the occasion, Chauhan termed his rejoining the BJP as "ghar wapsi" (returning home) and expressed his thanks to the party's central and state leadership.

"In 2024 (Lok Sabha polls), Narendra Modi will become the prime minister again. No power on earth can stop him," he said.

Chauhan, who hails from eastern Uttar Pradesh, said the opposition is not in the contest on even a single seat in 'Purvanchal' (eastern UP) and that the BJP will win all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

"The buzz seen in Purvanchal, and also in the entire UP, makes it amply clear that in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is going to register a huge win under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is not a single seat in Purvanchal where the opposition can register a victory," he said.

"Today, I have returned to the BJP as its soldier. Every party worker will work as a soldier to help the BJP win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections," he added.

Chauhan praised the development work being done by the Centre and the state government.

Chauhan belongs to OBC 'Noniya' caste, which has significant presence in over half-a-dozen parliamentary seats in eastern Uttar Pradesh, including Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Ghosi, Pratapgah, Azamgarh and Mau.

The BJP has already gained support of another OBC leader Om Prakash Rajbhar, who has six MLAs in the UP assembly.

Earlier in the day, Chauhan met Speaker of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Satish Mahana at the latter's office and submitted his resignation letter.

On Saturday, Chauhan, who was the Samajwadi Party MLA from Ghosi in Mau district, had tendered his resignation from the UP Legislative Assembly.

An Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader, Chauhan was the minister for forests and environment in the previous BJP government headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He resigned from the Council of Ministers on January 12, 2022 to join the Samajwadi Party.

Chauhan represented the Madhuban assembly constituency in the Mau district from 2017 to 2022. He also represented the Ghosi seat in the 15th Lok Sabha for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he was defeated by BJP candidate Harinarayan Rajbhar by more than 1.4 lakh votes.

Chauhan had earlier joined the BJP in 2015 and was appointed as the party's OBC Morcha president and fielded from the Madhuban assembly constituency.