Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada joins BJP, to contest from Rampur

Former Samajwadi Party MP and actor Jaya Prada joined the BJP on Tuesday and has been fielded as the party's candidate from Rampur constituency to take on her bitter rival and SP nominee Azam Khan.

A two-term Lok Sabha member from the SP, she is a close associate of Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, who was expelled from the regional party and has since come close to Hindutva fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she described him as a "brave" leader in whose hands the country is "safe".

Actor politician Jaya Prada was fielded from Rampur hours after she joined the party on Tuesday.

Noting that she started her political journey with the Telugu Desam Party and was its Rajya Sabha MP before joining the SP and being elected to Lok Sabha from Rampur, 56-year-old Jaya Prada told reporters that joining the BJP is a "significant" moment in her life and she would now work dedicatedly for the saffron party.

Welcoming her into the BJP, its general secretary Bhupendra Yadav said she needed no introduction and added she was impressed with the Modi government.

Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi was dropped as a BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, while Union minister Maneka Gandhi and her MP son Varun Gandhi swapped their seats as the party announced its 29 more nominees from Uttar Pradesh.

BJP general secretary Arun Singh announced that Union minister Manoj Sinha has been fielded from Ghazipur, a seat he had won in 2014, and UP government ministers Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Satyadev Pachauri from prestigious Allahabad and Kanpur seats respectively.

Joshi, 85, had won from Kanpur in 2014 but was told by the party leadership that he would not be fielded in the coming elections. The party has not given the ticket to veterans like L K Advani, B C Khanduri and Kalraj Mishra among others.

Of all the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, Rampur has the highest concentration of Muslims, and the BJP has often banked on division of their votes and consolidation of Hindus in its favour to win what is seen as a difficult seat for the saffron party.

Muslims are over 50 per cent of the total voters in the constituency.

Riding the Modi wave, BJP's Nepal Singh had won from there in 2014.

With Jaya Prada joining the BJP, the party's "star power" will also be boosted as it already has the likes of Hema Malini and Paresh Rawal in its ranks.

Celebrities help in campaign as their meetings draw good crowds, party leaders said.