Lucknow: Samajwadi Party MLA Nitin Agarwal, elected as Uttar Pradesh assembly Deputy Speaker with the BJP support, and another SP MLA resigned from their party Wednesday.
UP Deputy Speaker Agarwal, an SP MLA from Hardoi Sadar assembly seat said he has also resigned as deputy speaker of the House.
Besides Agarwal, SP MLA Sharadveer Singh from Jalalabad assembly segment in Shahjahanpur district too resigned from the party, saying the SP has deviated from its ideology and he will now work for the victory of the BJP.
In a news conference in Lucknow, Agarwal said, “I have sent my resignation from the SP to its national president Akhilesh Yadav. I have also resigned from the assembly membership and the post of its deputy speaker.”
After his election as UP assembly deputy speaker with the BJP support, Agarwal had not joined the party formally and was still an SP MLA technically.
Agarwal, who earlier shared the dais with Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the BJP’s Jan Vishwas rally, is likely to contest the assembly polls from his Hardoi Sadar seat on a BJP ticket.
Political observers say his resignation is a mere formality as he was already supporting the BJP.
Sharadveer Singh, the SP lawmaker from the Jalalabad assembly segment in the district quit the party after the denial of the ticket by the SP to fight the election.
In his resignation letter which went viral on social media, Singh said, “I had joined the SP in 1995 due to my faith in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s policies. I have been serving the people of Jalalabad since 1996 but now your (Akhilesh Yadav’s) SP has deviated from Mulayam Singh’s policies.”
“The ticket from here has been given to a candidate, who, during the BSP regime, committed atrocities on traders and other sections of the society. Hurt by your decision, I am resigning,” he added.
When contacted, Singh told PTI over the phone that he has not joined the BJP yet but applied for its ticket.
“If I get the BJP ticket, I will contest from here otherwise I will help whosoever gets the BJP ticket from here and ensure his victory,” he said.
“My aim is to ensure the defeat of SP candidate Neeraj Maurya. All my supporters are with me,” he added.
Shahjahanpur’s Jalalabad seat has never sent any BJP legislator.
In 2017, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had addressed a rally in support of the party candidate but he could not win.
PTI