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More SP MLCs waiting to quit, join BJP?
LUCKNOW In what could mean another setback to the Samajwadi Party, over half a dozen of its MLCs are said to be waiting in the wings to ‘quit’ their Council membership
LUCKNOW In what could mean another setback to the Samajwadi Party, over half a dozen of its MLCs are said to be waiting in the wings to ‘quit’ their Council membership and join the Bharatiya Janata Party’.
A BJP MLC, who before August 2017 was an SP council member, said: “Yes, more SP MLCs are poised to join the BJP. It can happen any time. SP numbers will fall in the council and BJP’s will rise in the days to come. Wait and watch.”
Starting July 2017 just after UP assembly elections, several party leaders have quit their membership of the state legislature and Parliament to cross over to the BJP camp.
Last week, three SP MLCs publicly met chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Gorakhpur. MLCs Ravishankar Singh ‘Pappu’, Ramesh Mishra and CP Chandra called the meeting a ‘courtesy call’ when media persons questioned them about the possibility of their quitting the council membership to move to the BJP.
SP national president Akhilesh Yadav, also played down the significance of the meeting. “We won’t say they are cosying up to the BJP fearing (any action) by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). They were there to discuss public welfare,” he quipped. Notably, one of these MLCs is being investigated over charges of corruption in sand mining.
To recall, the SP suffered its first blow in July-August 2017, when four of its UP legislative council members resigned from their membership and joined the BJP. Then, in August this year, three of its Rajya Sabha members also quit and joined the saffron party.
The BJP has an absolute majority in the UP legislative assembly (lower house) but in the legislative council (upper house), Samajwadi Party has the highest numbers. The council has 100 seats, out of which the SP has 55 and the BJP 21. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has eight seats, Congress two, Apna Dal one and the Teachers’ group five. Then, there are six independent members, one unattached member, while one seat is vacant.
“Once these eight members quit the SP and get re-elected from the BJP, the number picture will change. SP will fall to 47 and we (BJP) will be up to 29. This will help us in running the legislation process better with the support of one member from a BJP ally party and other non-political members,” said the SP-turned-BJP MLC.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2017?
In July-August 2017, the BJP had reportedly prompted resignations of one BSP and four SP MLCs to create five vacancies in the UP legislative council. It was necessary for CM Yogi Adityanath, his two deputies -- Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma -- and two ministers, Swantra Dev Singh (now UP BJP president) and Mohsin Raza, to become members from either of the two houses of the UP Assembly before October 2019. With SP MLCs -- Bukkal Nawab, Yashwant Singh, Sarojini Agarwal, and Ashok Bajpai -- and BSP MLC Thakur Jaivir Singh stepping down, Yogi and the other four got elected to the council. Subsequently, the BJP sent Ashok Bajpai to the Rajya Sabha and elected the remaining four to the UP Council again when vacancies came up.
RECENT BLOW
From July to August 2019, three SP and two Congress Rajya Sabha members quit their positions and joined the BJP. These were Neeraj Shekhar, Surendra Singh Nagar and Sanjay Seth from the SP, and Sanjay Sinh and Bhubneshwar Kalita from the Congress. Now, Neeraj Shekhar, Sanjay Seth and Surendra Singh Nagar have been re-eected to the upper house of the Parliament as members of the BJP.
