Bahraich:
A former Congress legislator from Uttar Pradesh who is serving a five-year sentence for assaulting a Dalit held a press conference at a hospital in Bahraich yesterday to announce that he is joining the Samajwadi Party.
Dilip Kumar Verma, a two-time MLA, was at the hospital for his routine heart and diabetes check-up.
Also at the hospital at the time of the presser were Samajwadi Party's district president Ramdev Yadav and some policemen, who made no attempts to stop the MLA.
So far, Mr Verma has served one year of his five-year sentence at the Bahraich jail. His wife is a Congress MLA from the Nanpara assembly seat.