Former SP Leader, Spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia Joins BJP

New Delhi: Former national president of Samajwadi Party's (SP) legal wing and spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia on Sunday formally joined the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). In a stunner of sorts, Gaurav Bhatia, just five days before the UP elections, had resigned from all the posts he held in SP.

At the time of his resignation, Bhatia had refused to disclose the reason why he was leaving the party before sending his resignation to the party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, and then UP CM Akhilesh Yadav.

However, later, in a post on social media, Bhatia had mentioned that his decision was "firmly entrenched" in his "principles of democracy and socialism".

In his decade-and-a-half-long association with the party, Bhatia represented SP on numerous TV debates and was a regular on prime-time. He was appointed as the additional advocate general to represent the state in the apex court in 2012.

Adding further, he had written, "It is hard for me to continue serving the party when it is compromising the very principles of democracy, secularism & socialism that I have always believed in."

A screenshot of Gaurav Bhatia's post on Facebook. (Credits: Facebook/Gaurav Bhatia)