Samajwadi Party MLA meets Keshav Maurya, likely to join BJP

Lucknow, May 22 (IANS) Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Puja Pal has met Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, triggering speculations of her finally joining the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

According to Maurya, Puja Pal met him in Prayagraj on Tuesday. Puja Pal had met Maurya in March after she cross-voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections, held in February.

Earlier, SP MLA from Raebareli, Manoj Pandey, had joined the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Raebareli.

Puja Pal had won elections twice on a BSP ticket and just before the 2022 assembly polls, she joined Samajwadi Party. Presently, Puja Pal is the MLA from the Chail assembly seat of Kaushambi district.

Puja Pal is the widow of former BSP MLA Raju Pal, who was murdered allegedly at the behest of gangster, late Atiq Ahmad, in 2005.