E-Paper
UP polls: Two Samajwadi Party MLCs, former Kanpur police commissioner join BJP
Less than a month before UP polls, the new entrants into the BJP also include a former Samajwadi Party lawmaker and a former IAS officer
Two sitting Samajwadi Party (SP) MLCs, an ex-MLA, former Kanpur police commissioner Asim Arun, who has taken voluntary retirement from the Indian Police Service (IPS), and a retired officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Sunday ahead of the UP polls.
The two serving Samajwadi Party members of legislative council (MLCs) are Ghanshyam Lodhi and Shailendra Pratap Singh. Om Prakash, former SP lawmaker from Shikohabad, also joined the BJP before the UP polls that will begin on February 10.
Besides, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and retired IAS Ram Bahadur joined the BJP on Sunday evening hours after former Kanpur police commissioner Asim Arun, a dalit, was inducted into the party after taking VRS nine years ahead of his retirement.
Ram Bahadur had contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate and lost narrowly.
Former Kanpur police commissioner Asim Arun’s decision drew flak from the Samajwadi Party and its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal, both of whom felt that this trend of bureaucrats joining politics straight after resignation didn’t augur well for bureaucracy-politician relations.
But, the BJP described his joining as a proof of honest officers and professionals being drawn to the party. Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur, also part of the UP BJP’s election panel along with state BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, were present, first for the IPS officer’s joining and later for the SP lawmakers too. They joined separately.
On his part, the UP BJP chief highlighted the former Kanpur police commissioner’s contribution in the police force that included a stint as the chief of the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) when several suspected terrorists were arrested and their sleeper cells busted.
“As the officer can verify, not once did the government or the chief minister’s office interfere in the functioning of the police,” the BJP leaders said.
“The issue is clear. As is clear from SP’s first list, there is a party that is giving tickets to criminals and those with shady background. Of the names it has declared, one contestant is in jail and the other likely contender is just out on bail. So here is this party and then there is BJP which is attracting upright professionals,” Anurag Thakur said.
UP BJP vice-president Daya Shankar Singh said several Samajwadi Party leaders were in queue to join BJP. Three UP ministers and several lawmakers, mostly OBC leaders, have quit the BJP recently and the ruling party, it is said, was now looking to win over a member of the Samajwadi Party’s first family.
