Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) leader and former Uttar Pradesh MLA Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali on Wednesday joined Samajwadi Party. Jamali, a two-time MLA (2012, 2017) from Mubarakpur seat of Azamgarh, is considered to have a good following in the district.
He had contested 2014 and 2022 Lok Sabha by-election from Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat against SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav, respectively, on a BSP ticket.
Akhilesh Yadav said, "Today I congratulate Shah Alam Guddu and his supporters...Like 'Samudra Manthan', this time there will be 'Samvidhan Manthan' in the elections. We are happy that our PDA family is expanding and we will work together to defeat the BJP in 2024 (Lok Sabha elections)..."
In 2022 bypoll, Jamali had secured 2,66,210 votes from the constituency, apparently on the back of the Muslim voters. BJP's Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirhua won that poll by getting 3.12 lakh votes, while SP's Dharmendra Yadav secured 3.04 lakh votes.
In 2014 poll also, Jamali secured over 2.66 lakh votes from Azamgarh and was at third place, while SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav won the seat securing 3.40 lakh votes.
SP has not yet declared any candidate on Azamgarh seat and has made Dharmendra Yadav in-charge of this and Kannauj seat.
