Who's Aparna Yadav, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav's sister-in-law, who joined BJP - 5 facts

Married to Prateek Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav's second wife, Aparna on January 19 joined the BJP ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections that will take place next month

Pic courtesy: Twitter/@aparnabisht7

Lucknow: The battle for Uttar Pradesh got even more interesting as Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law, put all speculations to rest and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party today (January 19, 2022). 

She joined the party in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and its state chief Swatantra Dev Singh. Aparna Yadav said she has always been impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and added that the nation's interest has always been her priority. 

Here are some details about Aparna Yadav:

- Aparna is married to Prateek Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav's second wife, Sadhna Gupta. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is Mulayam Singh's son from the first marriage. Aparna and Prateek, who tied the knot in 2011, have a daughter.

- Aparna had contested the 2017 assembly polls on the Samajwadi Party ticket from Lucknow Cantt but had lost to BJP's Rita Bahuguna Joshi, now a Lok Sabha member.

- She has a Masters' degree in international relations and politics from the University of Manchester. Aparna manages bAware, a women's advocacy organisation, working towards educating and empowering women in the state.

- Arvind Singh Bisht, Aparna Yadav's father, is a journalist. He is also the current state information commissioner of Uttar Pradesh. Aparna's mother, Ambi Bisht, works for the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.

- Several times in the past, she has praised the BJP government's initiatives. From supporting the abrogation of Article 370 to supporting the National Register of Citizens - which the Samajwadi Party opposed - she has made her leaning clear over the course of time.