Lucknow, March 24: Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav and son Prateek today met chief minister Yogi Adityanath amid speculation that they might be thinking of defecting to the BJP.

Family sources said it was Mulayam, who has good relations with BJP leaders, who had arranged the meeting under pressure from his second wife and Prateek's mother Sadhana Gupta.

Aparna, who had contested from Lucknow Cantonment as Samajwadi Party candidate and lost, is believed to be unwilling to work under party national president Akhilesh Yadav, son of Mulayam's first wife.

Akhilesh had wrested the post from Mulayam on January 1 and is yet to carry out his alleged promise of returning it to his father after the elections.

"Although all the details are not yet known, it's clear that Sadhana and Akhilesh don't want to do business together," the family source said.

"Sadhana wanted Prateek to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections but Akhilesh didn't let him. He gave a ticket to Aparna this time only under pressure from Mulayam."

The source added: "Netaji (Mulayam) knows how to remain in power even after losing elections. We have come to know that Netaji himself sought the appointment with the chief minister for Aparna and Prateek. Aparna is eyeing a berth in the legislative council."

Husband and wife were with Adityanath for about half an hour at Lucknow's government guesthouse for VVIPs. The chief minister has been staying there and is expected to move to his official residence, 5 Kalidas Marg, in a couple of days.

A BJP politician, however, claimed it was a "courtesy call". He said the family elders of Adityanath and Aparna have known one another for a long time because both belong to Uttarakhand. Adityanath, a monk, rarely meets his family.

Aparna has always maintained good ties with BJP leaders. She had sparked a controversy by clicking a dualfie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Mulayam's ancestral village of Saifai in February 2015 to attend a family ceremony.

Last October in Lucknow, Aparna had met and publicly touched the feet of Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

Ramveer Upadhyay, who was energy minister in Mayawati's government between 2007 and 2012, too met Adityanath today.

There is speculation that he is looking for greener pastures after the Bahujan Samaj Party's defeat in the Assembly elections.