Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh on Tuesday rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was expelled from the party after the Lok Sabha elections in 1999.
Singh was welcomed back into the party by general secretaries Pramod Mahajan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and UP leaders Kalraj Mishra and Vinay Katiyar at the BJP headquarters.
Earlier, Singh met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and party president M Venkaiah Naidu.
Former SP leader Balram Singh Yadav, a Lok Sabha member, also joined the BJP along with Singh.
In Lucknow, the Samajwadi Party, which heads the ruling coalition in Uttar Pradesh, said: "Singh's exit will have no effect on the stability of the government or the alliance. No restriction can be imposed on the entry and exit of anyone," state SP president Ram Sharan Das said.
Singh's Rashtriya Kranti Party was part of UP's ruling coalition.