Jaya Prada Joins BJP, May Get Rampur Ticket  

New Delhi: Actress -turned politician and former Samajwadi Party leader Jaya Prada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of senior party leaders on Tuesday.

Jaya Prada was inducted into the party by BJP General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni. Jaya Prada is likely to be fielded from the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency which she represented in 2009 and 2014. On both occasions, she defeated Congress's Noor Bano from Rampur.

If she is given Rampur she will be pitted against Azam Khan. Jaya Prada claimed that she was harassed by Azam Khan during her stint in Rampur and that he had also attempted to kill her.

Jaya Prada first joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1994 to enter politics. However, she left following differences with Chandrababu Naidu and joined the Samajwadi Party. Later she was expelled from SP for anti-party activities in 2010. She later joined a new party Rashtriya Lok Manch along with her associate Amar Singh, but lost the UP elections in 2012. She last joined Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal ahead of the 2014 national elections. Jaya Prada contested from the Bijnor seat in 2014, but lost to the BJP's Kunwar Bhartendra.

The same year, she took a break from active politics and focussing on her acting career. Now with 2019 elections heating up and her ailing associate Amar Singh showing inclination towards the Modi Government, she has decided to join the BJP.

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