Lucknow, Jan 14 (IANS): Former BJP ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini along with other MLAs, on Friday, formally joined the Samajwadi Party along with their supporters.

Maurya accused the BJP of coming to power in 2017 by duping backward castes. He said that the BJP had projected Keshav Maurya as chief minister, but then brought 'someone else from Gorakhpur like a Skylab'.

Maurya said that all his efforts would be to free Uttar Pradesh from the misrule of the BJP. He said that the Yogi Adityanath government has misled the people of the state.

"I want to tell the BJP that its countdown to failure begins today," he said.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, while welcoming the leaders into his party, said that the BJP was robbing the poor to give benefit to the rich.

Taking a dig at deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya, he said, "Now that these leaders have come here, I wonder what will happen to those who are made to sit on stools."

He also said that worried over the fact that so many leaders were joining the SP, Yogi Adityanath had already left for Gorakhpur even though he was supposed to return on March 10.

Meanwhile, former minister Dara Singh Chauhan did not formally join the Samajwadi Party on Friday.

Sources said that Chauhan, along with some more legislators, will join on Sunday.