In yet another blow to Samajwadi Party within a week, MlC Sarojini Agarwal quit the party on Friday and announced that she was joining the BJP.
The two-time MlC, whose term expires on January 30, 2021, tendered her resignation to legislative Council chairman Ramesh Yadav in lucknow on Friday. The Council Secretariat soon issued a notification declaring her seat as vacant.
An eminent gynecologist of Meerut, Dr Sarojini Agarwal is considered close to the Mulayam Singh Yadav-Shivpal Singh camp in the Samajwadi Party.
Agarwal said that she left the SP as she was disturbed after the removal of Mulayam Singh Yadav from party president’s post. The BJP leaders claimed in lucknow on Friday that two MlCs from the SP would be joining the party but only one joined. Senior BJP ministers— Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Mahendra Singh were present when Sarojini Agarwal joined the party.
Sarojni Agarwal’s daughter Dr Himani Agarwal, who was national general secretary of Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, too resigned from the SP and joined the BJP.
Sarojini Agarwal is the third SP MlC to resign and join the BJP. On last Saturday, three MlC- Bhukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh (SP) and Thakur Jaiveer Singh (BSP) resigned as members of the legislative Council and joined the BJP when party president Amit Shah was in lucknow on Monday.
Welcoming Dr Sarojni Agarwal into the BJP, Tourism minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that leaders from different parties were joining the BJP inspired by its ideology, policies and performance of Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. She however refuted allegations of poaching of Opposition leaders by the BJP. “I too joined the BJP for the same reasons. No one forced me to do so,” she said.
Dr Himani, a radiologist, said that she was attracted towards the policies of Prime Minister Modi and Yogi Adityanath. It is understood that Dr Himani could be the BJP candidate for the Council seat vacated by her mother.
Dr Sarojni Agarwal joined the SP when she was elected the District Panchayat chairperson in 1995. later, she was elected to the council for the first time in 2009 on a SP ticket and was repeated in 2016.
With this resignation, the strength of the SP, which has majority in the 100-member Upper House, has come down to 63 and the number of vacancies havegone up to five.
The Samajwadi Party alleged that BJP the was engineering these resignations to ensure that it’s Chief Minister and others enter the House through the back gate as they did not have the guts to contest direct elections and face the people.
Meanwhile SP president Akhilesh Yadav said, “I am least bothered by defections. Everybody in the party is free to go whereever they wish. None can stop the turncoats. It’s their character to go for greener pastures. Those deserting the SP were earlier in other parties. We are in the process of reinventing the party and giving it a new orientation.’’