Neera's husband and politician Mahendra Singh Yadav also crossed over to the BJP, leaving the Samajwadi Party.

Neera will campaign on seats like Ghaziabad, Gautambudh Nagar, Bulandshahr and a few other constituencies in the west.

The party, however, has not given any ticket to her for

contesting the forthcoming elections.

"I have no intention of contesting, but have joined the party as it is a national level party which would give me the most appropriate platform to do some social work," said Neera. "I will work like a party worker and would campaign in the western belt, she said.

The Yadavs were accompanied by thousands of their supporters. The SP district president, Chowdhury Gambhir Singh Kewatia, a prominent Jat leader, and retired superintendent of police Harendra Pal Singh also joined the party.

Mahendra Singh Yadav, a former Indian Police Service officer, had started his political career with the BJP and had subsequently crossed over to the SP and now is back home.

Neera was the country's first Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who was removed from the chief secretary's post by the Supreme Court on charges of corruption. She had been charged of committing largescale financial irregularities in the allotment of prime plots in Noida when she was chairperson of the Authority in the 1990s. A case against her was also filed in the CBI court, which also chargesheeted Yadav.

In 1994-95, when the state IAS Association decided to undertake a self-cleansing exercise by identifying the "three most corrupt officers" through a secret ballot, Neera Yadav was placed second after Akhand Pratap Singh.