Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal to join BJP today

NEW DELHI: In a major setback for the Samajwadi party, its General Secretary and Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agarwal is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday.

Last year in January, the senior leader was expelled by Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. Following this, Agarwal had rejected his expulsion from the party.

Reports suggest that Agarwal is unhappy with the party president and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for giving the ticket to actor-turned-politician Jaya Bachchan in the Rajya Sabha seat.

Kiranmayee Nanda, Darshan Singh Yadav, Naresh Agarwal, Jaya Bachchan, Munawwar Saleem and Alok Tiwari are the six Rajya Sabha MPs of the Samajwadi Party who are retiring. The SP has only 47 votes and Akhilesh Yadav can only send one leader to Parliament. The remaining 9 additional votes will be given to the BSP candidate under the party coalition.

Samajwadi Party has not given Rajya Sabha ticket to Naresh Agarwal, Kiranmayi Nanda, Darshan Singh Yadav, Munawwar Saleem and Alok Tiwari. The SP has decided to send only Jaya Bachan to six of its Rajya Sabha members.