LUCKNOW: Two days after he resigned from the UP assembly and met home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, SP MLA Dara Singh formally joined the BJP along with his supporters in the presence of UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary and the two deputy CMs, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, on Monday.This is the second time that Chauhan has joined the BJP, months after he turned rebel against the saffron outfit and joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led party just before the 2022 assembly elections.Speaking to reporters at the state party office, Chauhan said that his "Ghar Wapsi" was a result of collective approval from the entire BJP leadership, which once again showed faith in him.Chauhan said that he would put his entire political strength into enabling the BJP to win "each and every seat" (essentially in the east of UP) and ensuring the return of PM Narendra Modi to power for the third time in a row in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections."The prestige of PM Modi has been continuously increasing not only in the country but also abroad, which is a matter of great pride for all of us," he said.The former UP minister categorically took the name of Azamgarh, which he said would be won by the BJP comprehensively in the next national elections.

The BJP not only lost Azamgarh in 2019 but also could not win a single assembly seat from the district in the 2022 assembly polls.Chauhan said that the development works carried out in UP under the leadership of CM Yogi Adityanath were unprecedented.Deputy CM Pathak claimed that Chauhan was in regular touch with the BJP even while being in the opposition camp.

Pathak said that people of all communities had been expressing faith in the BJP policy of touching the lives of ‘Sarv Samaj’.

"This has been because of the various welfare programmes and schemes that the BJP government implemented," he said.Earlier in the day, Chauhan met Vidhan Sabha Speaker Satish Mahana and handed over his resignation letter.

He was accompanied by Chaudhary and UP minister Baldev Singh Olakh.