
Former MP Dharmendra Kashyap, who recently left the BJP, met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at the Janeshwar Mishra Trust building in Lucknow on Sunday, 11 October 2026. His daughter Kirti Kashyap was also present. The meeting was attended by SP’s Bareilly district president Shubhlesh Yadav and senior leader Veerpal Singh Yadav, prompting speculation about Kashyap joining the party.

According to tv9hindi.com, Kashyap may formally join the SP on 18 October 2026. Amarujala.com reports the meeting is seen as potentially reshaping political equations in Bareilly, especially the Aonla region. Kashyap had cited suffocation in the BJP and raised issues including unemployment, paper leaks and bulldozer actions before quitting.
Amarujala.com frames the meeting as a political realignment in Bareilly without dwelling on Kashyap’s grievances against the BJP. Tv9hindi.com devotes more space to those grievances, reporting his criticisms of the state government’s law-and-order approach and bulldozer actions. Both outlets agree on the key fact of the meeting and the presence of SP leaders, but tv9hindi.com adds a specific date for a possible formal joining. Neither source carries a denial or comment from the BJP. The coverage is uniform on the core event, the difference is in how much weight each outlet gives to Kashyap’s stated reasons for leaving. The next concrete step is 18 October 2026, when Kashyap is expected to take SP membership.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): amarujala.com (neutral report), tv9hindi.com (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.