Party Hopper Rita Bahuguna’s Son Follows Suit, Jumps Off BJP Bandwagon Over Denied Ticket, Joins SP

On the last day of polling in Uttar Pradesh, Allahabad MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s son Mayank provided ample fodder to TV channels with his diatribe against the BJP leadership that denied him the ticket from the Lucknow Cantonment seat, his mother had won in 2017. Soon after joining Samajwadi Party, he sought to know why he was denied while Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj was allowed to seek re-election from Noida among and other dynasts were made ministers in the Modi Government. Joshi tried to make out how the party was not strictly implementing the ‘one family, one ticket’ policy uniformly. The BJP was only interested in giving Brahmin leaders a tough time — he declared mindful of SP’s agenda to win over the Brahmins, it’s new supporter base. Mayank’s outburst, dragging in big names has naturally upset BJP leaders who were appalled when he sought to equate Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who has also been BJP president, with his mother, Rita Bahuguna. “How can there be a comparison? Rajnathji has built the party. Pankaj as a child must have been raised on the laps of senior leaders. Ritaji has been party-hopping,” said one UP leader. Rita Bahuguna, who was minister in the Yogi Government till 2019 has never reconciled to life as a Lok Sabha MP.