NCP’s Pawar claims 13 MLAs will join Samajwadi Party in UP

As India’s state of Uttar Pradesh heads for its 2022 assembly elections on February 10, the National Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar has claimed that around 13 MLAs will be joining Akhilesh's Samajwadi Party (SP) ahead of the elections.
His statement came hours after UP cabinet minister Swami Prasad Maurya of the Bhartiya Janata Party resigned from the post and quit his party. Soon after Swami Prasad Maurya's resignation, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav welcomed him in the party. He has given a statement that several more leaders will be joining his party in the run up to the elections.
Addressing a press conference, Pawar has said that in UP, NCP is going to contest elections with Samajwadi Party and other smaller parties. He has claimed that the people of Uttar Pradesh are looking for a change and the world will surely see the change in the State. According to him, Communal polarisation is being done in Uttar Pradesh, ahead of Assembly elections, but the people of UP will give a befitting reply.