In yet another setback to the Samajwadi Party and anti-BJP alliance in western Uttar Pradesh, a prominent Gujjar community leader, Chowdhary Virendra Singh, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and party state president Mahendra Nath Pandey here on Saturday.

Virendra Singh is a native of Shamli district in western UP. He is Samajwadi Party MLC and was Cabinet minister in the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav government.

Samajwadi Party is an important constituent of the anti-BJP alliance that also has Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal and some small political outfits. The term of Virendra Singh as member of the Vidhan Parishad ends on January 30, 2021.

Virendra Singh’s joining the BJP has dealt a big blow to the grand alliance in west UP, which goes to polls in the first two phases.

The BJP gain is significant as one of the ruling party’s Gujjar community leader and Muzaffarnagar MLA Avtar Singh Bhadana had quit the party and joined the Congress recently . Moreover, another Gujjar community leader, Mriganka Singh, daughter of senior Gujjar leader late Hukum Singh, is also sulking after being denied ticket from Kairana Lok Sabha seat. She had unsuccessfully contested the bypoll to Kairana Lok Sabha seat in May 2018, losing to Tabassum Hasan, the SP candidate supported by Rashtriya Lok Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party.

Virendra Singh, in his brief speech, said that there was no condition on his joining the BJP and his main effort would be to support to party to win all the 16 seats of west UP going to polls in the first two phases.

Virendra Singh, a six-time MLA and minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, joined the BJP along with his close associates and Shamli district panchayat chairman Manish Chauhan and Kandhla block pramukh Harminder Chauhan.

Singh is nephew of veteran Gujjar leader Chowdhary Yashpal Singh, who was Congress MP from Saharanpur and served as minister in Congress governments headed by Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Sripati Mishra.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, welcoming the SP leader in the BJP fold, said the joining of Virendra Singh would boost the party’s prospect in western UP.

When asked if Nishad Party was also joining the BJP, the Yogi said with a smile, “Wait, the BJP is not weak and will fulfil the target of winning 74 seats in UP.”

BJP state president Mahendra Nath Pandey also welcomed the Gujjar leader in the party and gave him the party membership slip.