BJP's Prayagraj MP Shyama Charan Gupta joins Samajwadi Party, to contest from Banda

Lucknow, Mar 16: Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj Shyama Charan Gupta joined the Samajwadi Party on Saturday. He will be contesting the Lok Sabha Elections from Banda constituency as a SP candidate.

The former BJP member switched side on a day Janata Dal Secular (JDS) general secretary Danish Ali joined former Uttar Pradesh Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). This may boost SP and BSP, the two parties which are fighting the polls in an alliance to defeat the BJP.

Gupta had contested Lok Sabha elections from Banda on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 1999 but had lost to a candidate from Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. He, however, won from Banda in 2004.

Gupta had contested from Phulpur in 2009 as a Samajwadi Party candidate but lost the elections. In 2014, he contested as a BJP candidate from Allahabad, now known as Prayagraj and won.

The announcement of Gupta's switch comes hours before the BJP is to release its first list for the Lok Sabha elections.

Being the largest State of India, Uttar Pradesh will vote for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 in 7 phases. The counting will happen on May 23 and the results will be declared on the same day.