Samajwadi Party suffers another jolt, MP Surendra Nagar quits Rajya Sabha, set to join BJP

Days after senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Neeraj Shekhar resigned from the House and party as well to join the BJP, the Akhilesh Yadav-led party suffered another jolt when its MP Surendra Nagar resigned from Upper House. Nagar is all set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday in Delhi.

Nagar is an influential Gurjar leader who comes from western Uttar Pradesh. His resignation was accepted by Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday itself. After resigning from the House, Nagar met senior BJP leaders in the Parliament.

“He is likely to join the saffron party and may be re-elected to the Upper House on its ticket,” a leader told news agency PTI.

After Nagar’s resignation, the Samajwadi Party’s strength in Rajya Sabha has come down to 11. Nagar was upset with the functioning of the party and conduct of a section of its senior leaders.

A number of Rajya Sabha MPs from opposition parties have quit the House and joined the BJP of late. Recently, Neeraj Shekhar had quit the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP. Congress Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Sinh had also resigned as an MP earlier this week and joined the BJP.

While Rajya Sabha terms of Shekhar and Sinh was to end in 2020, Nagar’s term was to get over in 2022.

Given its huge majority in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, the BJP is all set to win all the three seats in the upcoming bypolls. The re-election of these leaders will only add to the BJP’s strength where it still does not enjoy the majority.

Nagar had begun his political career in 1998 when he was elected as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council as an Independent candidate. In 2004, he was re-elected MLC as a joint candidate of Lok Dal and the SP. He was with Lok Dal at the time. He joined Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) before 2009 Lok Sabha polls and was elected an MP from Gautam Buddh Nagar, defeating BJP’s Mahesh Sharma.

He joined Samajwadi Party before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and sought a ticket to contest from Gautam Buddh Nagar, but then party chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav turned down his demand. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in June 2016.