Akhilesh Yadav’s sister-in-law facing backlash over Lucknow hospital vandalism: Who is Aparna Yadav?

While Aparna has criticised KGMU and its handling of the case, accusing the university of indulging in “religious conversion” and stopping women doctors from “approaching the Commission”, the university administration has accused her and her supporters of barging onto campus and vandalising university property after seeking a meeting with Vice-Chancellor Soniya Nityananda, a Padma Shri awardee and renowned hematologist.

While Nityananda is learnt to have made calls to the offices of Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeking their intervention, the university also lodged a police complaint against Aparna for vandalism. Now, the KGMU staff have threatened to go on protest following the police’s failure to register an FIR over the alleged vandalism.

Sources in the BJP said Aparna was likely eyeing a larger role in the party or a ticket to contest the 2027 UP Assembly elections. The 36-year-old, who is married to late Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger son Prateek in 2011 and is referred to in SP circles as “Chhoti Bahu”, has increasingly been a vocal figure in UP politics.

A postgraduate in International Relations and Politics from Manchester University in the UK and a trained singer in classical and semi-classical music from Bhatkhande Music Institute, Lucknow, Aparna Yadav was a regular performer at Saifai Mahotsav and Lucknow Mahotsav before entering politics.

Aparna made her first political appearance in 2014 during the SP’s National Executive in the presence of Mulayam. At the time, the SP was in power in UP. In 2017, the SP gave her the ticket from the Lucknow Cantonment Assembly constituency. Her candidature was the result of an intervention by Mulayam himself, who had even campaigned for her in that election, said SP insiders.

However, in an election that saw the BJP come to power with an outright majority, Aparna lost her seat to the BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi by nearly 34,000 votes. After that, she was gradually pushed to the sidelines in the SP, particularly as an ailing Mulayam receded into the background

While still in the SP, Aparna ran a social organisation for women but was often at loggerheads with her family over her political ambitions. Soon, she began vocally expressing support for some policies of the Yogi Adityanath government as well as praising steps taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, lending credence to speculation at the time that she might join the BJP.

Ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections, Aparna made the switch, saying she was influenced by Modi’s leadership and the BJP’s policies. “I have always been inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I now want to try and do better for the country. I have always been very impressed by the schemes of the BJP and I will do my best in the party,” she said.

Reacting to the development at the time, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said he was happy that “the party’s socialist ideology is spreading”. But he also claimed that his father had tried hard to convince Aparna not to make the switch.

Though many believed she would contest the 2022 Assembly elections, Aparna did not get a ticket and was not considered for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

However, about two-and-a-half years after joining the BJP, she was appointed the vice-chairperson of the State Women’s Commission in September 2024. BJP sources said she was reluctant to take the job, having harboured hopes of getting a bigger responsibility, but accepted the post a week after the announcement following a meeting with Adityanath. Like the CM, her parents hail from Uttarakhand and are followers of the Gorakhnath Matt that he heads. After the ruckus at KGMU, Aparna met the CM.