Former BJP MP Dharmendra Kashyap, Daughter Join Samajwadi Party

The Samajwadi Party welcomed former Aonla Lok Sabha MP Dharmendra Kashyap and his daughter, Kirti Kashyap, in Lucknow on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

Kashyap had resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party earlier and met SP president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on October 11, accompanied by his daughter. Speculation about his joining the SP had intensified after that meeting.

Akhilesh Yadav welcomes Kashyap

Welcoming the former MP, Yadav said the entry of Dharmendra Kashyap and Kirti Kashyap into the “PDA Movement” had strengthened the party in Bareilly, Rohilkhand and across Uttar Pradesh.

“The joining of former MP Shri Dharmendra Kashyap and his daughter, Ms. Kirti Kashyap, in the ‘PDA Movement’ has multiplied our strength in Bareilly, Rohilkhand, and throughout Uttar Pradesh,” Yadav said.

He congratulated them and others who joined them, and repeated the SP’s promise of “Respect for all, place for all”. Yadav said the party would move forward by taking everyone along.

“Today is a special day in the sense that those who once fought elections face to face have today forgotten all competition and have united hand in hand for the larger objectives of the PDA,” Yadav said while welcoming the former MP.

Kashyap is from the Other Backward Classes category and is described in the source as influential in Bareilly district.

Kashyap alleges law and order collapse

After joining the SP, Kashyap alleged that the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh had collapsed and that members of backward communities were being denied justice.

“Bulldozers are used against marginalised social groups under the BJP government. I assure that injustice will end and people will get justice in the future SP rule,” he said.

The move places Kashyap within the SP’s PDA framework, which Yadav linked to the party’s stated effort to expand its strength in Bareilly, Rohilkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

Source: The Hindu