NEW DELHI, May 1 (INP): Former India’s Border Security Force (BSF) constable Tej Bahadur Yadav, who triggered a controversy after uploading a video showing poor quality food served to jawans, has joined the Samajwadi Party (SP).

He will be contesting the Lok Sabha election 2019 as a candidate of the grand alliance of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

In the Lok Sabha election 2019, Tej Bahadur Yadav has been pitted against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

Tej Bahadur Yadav had earlier said that he would be contesting the general elections against the prime minister as an Independent candidate. Today, however, he joined the SP to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

The SP had earlier fielded Shalini Yadav from Varanasi parliamentary constituency as a joint candidate of the grand alliance. The party has now cancelled her ticket and has fielded Tej Bahadur Yadav from the seat instead. When Tej Bahadur Yadav had announced his decision to contest the Lok Sabha election 2019, he had accused PM Modi of “seeking votes in the name of jawans”.

“The government has failed the forces. PM Modi seeks votes in the name of jawans but has done nothing for them,” he said. Tej Bahadur Yadav had also claimed that he had taken the decision to contest the Lok Sabha elections as an Independent candidate even though he was approached by several parties.

Last month, Tej Bahadur Yadav had criticised PM Modi, saying the prime minister had made several promises but was yet to deliver on any of them. Tej Bahadur Yadav shot to fame in January 2017 when he posted four videos on Facebook, complaining about unpalatable food served to jawans at a BSF camp along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir.

Tej Bahadur Yadav had also alleged that the senior officials illegally sold off the food supplies meant for the troopers.

Yadav had also said that he was “mentally tortured” and had expressed apprehension that his seniors may take action against him for exposing the condition of soldiers on the border.

He was later removed from service.