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After stints in every major party in UP, Naresh Agarwal hops over to BJP now

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Naresh Agarwal’s decline in the SP started last year and Akhilesh Yadav was said to be adamant about not nominating him to the Rajya Sabha again.

New Delhi: Former Samajwadi Party MP and senior Uttar Pradesh leader Naresh Agarwal Monday joined the BJP.

Agarwal was angry about not getting a Rajya Sabha nomination for the third time. Given its reduced strength in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, it could send only one person to the Rajya Sabha, and the party picked another of its sitting RS MPs, Jaya Bachchan.

Agarwal created controversy by saying it pained him that his ticket was given to a nachaniya (dancing girl), referring to the Bollywood actor. The comment was later criticised by union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who tweeted: “Shri Naresh Agarwal has joined Bhartiya Janata Party. He is welcome. However, his comments regarding Jaya Bachhan ji are improper and unacceptable.”

Long in the pipeline

There were strong rumours before last year’s UP assembly elections that Agarwal might join the BJP. He had met some BJP leaders at the time too. But things didn’t work out.

Not getting a Rajya Sabha nomination was something Agarwal didn’t expect. However, Samajwadi Party sources told ThePrint that the party was aware of his willingness to join the BJP.

Agarwal’s decline within the SP started after he organised a party at a Delhi five-star hotel in July last year. The party was to celebrate senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav’s 25 years in the Rajya Sabha, and the guest list included PM Narendra Modi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh and the Vice-President of India at the time, Hamid Ansari.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was invited but he didn’t attend the function. The grand celebration raised eyebrows within the party, and his closeness to the BJP was widely discussed. Ram Gopal Yadav then reportedly clarified on Agarwal’s behalf to Akhilesh, saying there was nothing wrong in that. But the distrust kept simmering.

For the past few days, Agarwal was always spotted with Ram Gopal in Delhi. He would come to Parliament in Ram Gopal’s car; this was taken as an indication that Ram Gopal was backing his candidature for the Rajya Sabha.

But sources said even this didn’t work, because Akhilesh was adamant on not sending him back to the RS. Agarwal, who had been treating it as a foregone conclusion and had his flight tickets to Lucknow ready, was informed by his friend and Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien that Akhilesh had spoken to TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and told her that Jaya Bachchan was the party’s choice.

Shocked, Agarwal reportedly told another friend at a party that Akhilesh “has not dropped me, he has dropped Ram Gopal Yadav”, his father Mulayam Singh’s influential cousin.

By the time he got the news, the BJP had already announced its list of eight candidates from UP, leaving no scope for him to get a ticket. Agarwal still met union home minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi, and a final call was taken to induct him and son Nitin, an SP MLA, into the BJP.

Controversial past

Agarwal’s remarks inside and outside Parliament have constantly made headlines. In 2013, he had called Modi a ‘madari’ (a street performer generally accompanied by a trained animal, such as a monkey).

In July last year, he compared Hindu Gods with alcohol in a Parliament speech (Vishnu resides in whiskey, Ram in rum etc). Sometime back, he also called Kulbhushan Jadhav a “terrorist”, and justified the Pakistan government’s behaviour vis-à-vis him.

“The BJP has no shame in inducting such a leader, who is a known power broker and demeans Hindu Gods and the Indian Army regularly,” said Sunil Yadav Sajan, SP spokesperson and MLC. “We were aware that he would join the party. Good that he showed his true colors.”

Tried every party

This is not the first time Agarwal has ditched one party to join another. In fact, in the past few years, he has tried every party in UP except the BJP.

Agarwal was a Congress MLA till 1997 from Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh. In 1997, he, along with 21 other MLAs, broke away and formed the Loktantrik Congress to support Kalyan Singh’s government in the state. He became a power minister under three BJP chief ministers — Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, and Rajnath Singh. In 2001, Agarwal was suspended from the cabinet by Rajnath Singh, and his party withdrew from the government.

Later, Agarwal joined the Samajwadi Party and became a minister again in 2003 under CM Mulayam Singh. In 2008, Agarwal joined the BSP and his son Nitin Agarwal became an MLA from Hardoi.

In 2010, he was sent to the Rajya Sabha on a BSP ticket. In 2012, Agarwal resigned his seat and joined the SP again, being sent back to the upper house. His son was a minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s cabinet.

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