Jailed Congress leader Dileep Verma joins Samajwadi Party

A jailed former MLA and Congress leader on Friday joined Samajwadi Party in police custody.

Dileep Verma, who is undergoing treatment at the district hospital and was shifted there from the jail, joined the ruling SP in front of local party office-bearers and media.

Speaking to reporters, Verma praised SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and termed Congress as a sinking ship. The former MLA has been in jail since June 2012 and is undergoing five years rigorous imprisonment in connection with an attack on a dalit constable in 1998.

His wife Madhuri Verma is a sitting Congress MLA. A jail official, who did not want to be identified, feigned ignorance about Verma's joining SP in police custody against jail rules.