Former Member of Parliament and prominent Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Jaya Prada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just days before the nation goes to polls for the 17th Lok Sabha.

The actor-turned-politician was inducted into the party fold on Tuesday at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi.

Addressing the media after her induction, Jaya Prada praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for leading the nation on issues of national security.

Calling Modi a “brave leader”, the 56-year-old Jaya Prada, who was a top star before joining politics, said, “Today I am working with that brave leader in whose hands the country feels safe … PM Modi. I thank the BJP and Amit Shah for this.”

She said that her decision to join BJP is a “significant moment” for her.

Jaya Prada, who began her political career with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1994, joined the SP following differences with Chandrababu Naidu.

As a member of the SP, Jaya Prada represented Rampur twice in the Lok Sabha – in 2004 and 2009. She was later expelled from the party along with Amar Singh following bitter fallout with Azam Khan.

In March 2018, she compared Azam Khan to the 13-14th century Delhi Sultanate emperor Alauddin Khilji stating that “watching Padmaavat, Khilji’s character reminded me of Azam Khan ji.”

In 2014, Jaya Prada contested the Lok Sabha elections on a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ticket from Bijnor but lost miserably to BJP’s Kunwar Bharatendra Singh.