Two days after Jaya Bachchan was renominated to the Rajya Sabha, senior Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi on Monday. As per reports, he was miffed over being ignored for his nomination to the Upper House.
He joined the BJP at a press conference in New Delhi in the presence of Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. His son Nitin Agarwal, the current MLA from Hardoi, also joined the BJP.
With 47 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the Samajwadi Party could send just one candidate to the upper house and it chose Jaya Bachchan over Agarwal. There were already murmurs of Agarwal “colluding” with the BJP since January.
Agarwal said he was influenced by the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also took a dig at the Samajwadi Party leadership for choosing a “nachne waali” over him for the Rajya Sabha. His comment attracted widespread condemnation.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was among the first ones to take offence to Agarwal’s remark. Swaraj took to Twitter to condemn the unparliamentary language he used for Jaya Bachchan.
Shri Naresh Agarwal has joined Bhartiya Janata Party. He is welcome. However, his comments regarding Jaya Bachhan ji are improper and unacceptable.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 12, 2018