The BJP Saturday got a shot in the arm as six-time Samajwadi Party MLA and former minister Chaudhary Virendra Singh joined the saffron party at its headquarters.

A member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, Singh joined the saffron party in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and state Bharatiya Janata Party chief Mahendra Nath Pandey.

Speaking on the occasion, Adityanath said, "The BJP is not at all weak. In 2014, the BJP and its allies had won 73 Lok Sabha seats in the state. In 2017, UP Assembly elections the BJP and its allies bagged 325 seats."

"Following this, in the urban local bodies' polls BJP candidates won mayoral elections in 14 out of 16 seats. The BJP will proceed with this intensity in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, and surge ahead of its target of 74-plus seats," he added.

Welcoming the MLA from Kandhla assembly constituency, parts of which went to Shamli and Kairana assembly constituencies after delimitation, Pandey said: "Today the opposition is devoid of any policy and principles, and it is hell bent in pushing the country into doldrums."

The politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats where polls are scheduled to be held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May. The results will be declared on May 23.