Congress' rebel Raebareli MLA Aditi Singh joins BJP ahead of UP elections 2022

Aditi Singh (left), BSP's Vandana Singh (centre) join the BJP in Lucknow on Nov 24, 2021 (Image: Twitter/@BJP4UP)

Aditi Singh, the rebel Congress legislator from Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli Sadar constituency, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on November 24.

Aditi, along with dissident Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA from Azamgarh, Vandana Singh, was inducted into the BJP at a press conference held in Lucknow, in presence of the party's state unit chief Swatantra Dev Singh.

The switchover of Aditi to the BJP comes barely a couple of months before the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, which are expected to be held around February-March 2022.

Speculations of Aditi joining the saffron party were rife since 2019, when she lauded the Narendra Modi-led government for scrapping Article 370 and praised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the work done to promote solar energy and cleanliness in UP.

जनकल्याणकारी नीतियों से प्रभावित होकर अन्य दलों के नेता भाजपा परिवार में शामिल हो रहे हैं।

प्रदेश अध्यक्ष श्री @swatantrabjp ने रायबरेली से कांग्रेस विधायक श्रीमती @AditiSinghRBL व आजमगढ़ से बसपा विधायक श्रीमती वंदना सिंह को प्रदेश कार्यालय में पार्टी की सदस्यता ग्रहण कराई। pic.twitter.com/cKr6Eg2Onq

Related stories

• 
  Congress to hold massive rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on 'SIR' issue
• 
  The Bihar conundrum- freebies Vs Growth with NK Singh, Economist and Former MP
• 
  Congress to hold meeting of top office-bearers of 12 states, UTs where SIR is underway on Tuesday

— BJP Uttar Pradesh (@BJP4UP) November 24, 2021

Once considered to be a close aide of Congress' general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the 34-year-old had begun to be seen at odds with the party leadership through her critical remarks following the 2019 general election rout.

When senior Congress leader Jitina Prasada had jumped ship to the BJP earlier this year, she had told News18, "One by one, all young and dynamic leaders are leaving the party. The leadership should introspect on the issue."

Also Read | ‘Rebel’ of Rae Bareli, MLA Aditi Singh says Congress should give leaders space to be their own people

Aditi also slammed Priyanka Gandhi last week after the latter linked the prime minister's decision to withdraw the three central farm laws to the upcoming assembly elections.

"Priyanka Gandhi had a problem when Bills were brought. She has a problem when the laws have been repealed. What does she want? She should say it clearly. She is only politicising the matter. She has now run out of issues to politicise," Aditi had said.

Notably, Aditi was elected to the state assembly in her maiden election from the Rae Bareli seat in 2017. She bagged the constituency - a bastion of his father and five-time MLA Akhilesh Singh - by a margin of over 90,000 votes.