LUCKNOW, Feb. 15 -- Ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, senior leader and former BSP minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Lucknow on Sunday, in a move seen as both a boost for the SP and a setback for the Congress, which he quit on January 24.

Former BSP minister Anis Ahmad Khan (Phool Babu) also joined the SP, along with former Pratapgarh Sadar MLA and Apna Dal (S) ex-state president Rajkumar Pal, former Deoria MLA Dinanath Kushwaha, former AIMIM candidate from Kannauj Dr Danish Khan and several others.

Once considered Mayawati's right-hand man, Siddiqui had joined the Congress in 2018 after being expelled from the BSP in 2017 for alleged anti-party activities. Khan had contested the 2024 Lok...