Veteran actor and former lawmaker Jaya Prada joined the BJP today, two weeks before the national elections. She has been pitted against Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan on the Rampur constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Jaya Prada had represented Rampur twice in the Lok Sabha — in 2004 and 2009 — as a member of the Samajwadi Party.
Calling it an “important moment” in her life, Jaya Prada said “I am part of a national party, where the leader leads on issues of national security… I’m honored to work under PM Modi’s leadership”.
The 56-year-old actor had joined politics in 1994 as a member of the Telugu Desam Party, which was headed by NT Rama Rao. But she left following differences with Chandrababu Naidu and joined the Samajwadi Party.
But she and Amar Singh, with whom she has been closely associated, were expelled from the Samajwadi Party following differences with Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Jaya Prada had earlier claimed she was harassed by Azam Khan and received threats from him.
Ahead of the 2014 national elections, both of them joined Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Jaya Prada contested from the Bijnor seat in 2014 but lost to the BJP’s Kunwar Bhartendra.