Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada

RAMPUR: Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party and contest Lok Sabha elections from Rampur. The former Samajwadi Party leader had won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in 2004 and 2009. According to the insiders, the party high command may soon take a decision on her entry into the BJP as well as her candidature.

Jaya has always been a close associate of Amar Singh, who in turn has been all praise for PM Narendra Modi and found a mention in latter’s public address at an event in Lucknow recently. Though he is yet to formally join BJP, Singh has prefixed Chowkidar to his Twitter handle.

Local BJP leader Akash Kumar Saxena, one of the contenders for the ticket, told TOI that he had withdrawn his request for a ticket in favour of Jaya Prada.

“She has represented Rampur in LS twice and enjoys good support. If the party leadership reposes faith in her, she will win with a huge margin,” Saxena said.

In the 2004 general elections, Jaya Prada had registered a thumping victory with a margin of over 85,000 votes and defeated senior Congress leader and sitting MP Begum Noor Bano. Both Azam Khan and Amar Singh had campaigned for her.

In 2009, she again contested from here and won with a huge margin despite Azam Khan vehemently opposing her. Begum Noor Bano came second while Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi lost his deposit.

Jaya Prada, who has been part of several political parties, had made her political debut with TDP in 1994. She later quit the party over differences with party chief N Chandrababu Naidu. She joined SP but was expelled in 2010 for "anti-party activities".



In Video: Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada joins BJP