UP Election 2022: Who is Aparna Yadav? Why is her entry into BJP big news?

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav joined the BJP on Wednesday, giving a severe blow to the Samajwadi Party ahead of the UP elections. This announcement followed high-profile BJP departures last week. Former Cabinet ministers Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan, and Dharam Singh Saini joined Akhilesh's party. Several MLAs followed suit, intensifying the BJP-SP feud to unprecedented proportions.

Here's what we know about Aparna Yadav: 

• Aparna Yadav is the wife of Prateek Yadav, the son of Mulayam Singh and Sadhana Gupta. Aparna and Prateek married in 2011 and have a daughter together.
• Aparna Yadav, according to reports, has sought for a ticket from the Lucknow Cantt assembly constituency.
• She received her master's degree in International Relations and Politics from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.
• The young politician ran as a Samajwadi Party candidate in the 2017 state election from Lucknow Cantt, finishing second to Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who had left the Congress to join the BJP.
• Aparna manages bAware, a women's advocacy organisation, and a cow shelter in Lucknow.
• Arvind Singh Bisht, Aparna Yadav's father, is a journalist and the current state information commissioner of Uttar Pradesh. Her mother, Ambi Bisht, works for the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.
• Aparna Yadav has previously praised several of the BJP government's efforts. She also contributed 11 lakh rupees to the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Also Read | UP Election 2022: Big boost for BJP as Mulayam Singh's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav joins party

This development comes minutes after Samajwadi Party sources announced that the party chief Akhilesh Yadav has decided to contest upcoming Assembly election. The SP president had previously stated that he would not run in the state's forthcoming Assembly elections and focus on his party's campaign. The party has yet to pick which constituency Yadav would run in. 

Also Read | UP Election 2022: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to contest polls, says source

• Aparna Yadav
• Mulayam Singh Yadav
• UP Election 2022
• BJP
• Samajwadi Party