A Samajwadi Party MLA and wife of a former BSP MLA Raju Pal, Pooja Pal, is likely to join Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Lok Sabha 2024.
Raju Pal was murdered in 2015 months after winning the Allahabad (West) assembly seat by defeating former MP and gangster Atiq Ahmed's younger brother Khalid Azim. Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were the prime accused in the Raju Pal murder case.
Earlier on April 15, Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead from point-blank range while being taken for their medicals, in the presence of police officials. Three persons, posing as journalists, had joined the media persons who surrounded Atiq and his brother asking questions. The three men shot Atiq and Ashraf who died on the spot. They were arrested soon after from the place of the incident.
Blow to Samajwadi Party
After the murder of Raju Pal, Pooja Pal was elected MLA twice from Allahabad West seat. Both times she managed to win the election on a BSP ticket. However, when Atiq Ahmed joined the BSP, Pooja Pal left the BSP and joined the Samajwadi Party.
In the assembly elections 2022, the SP fielded him from the Chail seat in the Kaunshabi district, where Pooja Pal won. Pooja Pal is currently an MLA from the Chayal assembly seat on the SP ticket.
