Veteran Congress leader Kamalapati Tripathi’s grandson Lalitesh Pati Tripathi is likely to join the Samajwadi Party in near future. A former Congress MLA from Mirzapur, Tripathi recently quit the Congress. On Saturday, he updated his Twitter bio, removing Indian National Congress from it and changing the cover photo from one with Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi to a picture of him addressing a rally.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party sources said that Tripathi had put forward the condition of a party ticket from Marihan assembly constituency in Mirzapur which he had won in the 2012 elections. However, the Samajwadi Party is yet to give such an assurance. Moreover, Brahmin leaders in Samajwadi Party are resisting the entry of Lalitesh Pati Tripathi into the party fold.

Tripathi lost three elections -- 2014 Lok Sabha poll, 2017 assembly election and 2019 Lok Sabha election. “If he loses another election, then his political career may end, so he may not want to take the risk and is hence searching for greener pastures in other political parties,” said a Congress leader.

A fourth-generation Congressman, Lalitesh Pati Tripathi is the grandson of former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Kamalapati Tripathi. He was MLA from Mirzapur’s Marihan assembly constituency between 2012 and 2017. Tripathi was also appointed vice-president of Uttar Pradesh Congress in 2019 and was made in-charge of the party’s activities in the eastern districts in 2020. His father, Rajesh Pati Tripathi, a former MLC from Congress, enjoyed a good rapport with the Gandhis.