Rebel Samajwadi Party MlC Ambika Chaudhary, who had defected to Bahujan Samaj Party ahead of 2012 Assembly elections in March, resigned from membership of the legislative Council. Chaudhary’s term as MlC will end on May 5, 2018 and he submitted his resignation to Chairman of legislative Council Ramesh Yadav in lucknow on Wednesday.
Incidentally, SP president Akhilesh Yadav’s term at the Council too ends on May 5, 2018. Earlier this month, BSP MlC Jaiveer Singh had resigned from the BSP and membership of the Council before joining the BJP.
“I am not part of the defectors brigade, who resigned from the SP and later joined the BJP. I am in Bahujan Samaj Party and will continue to be a dedicated member of the party. I had informed my leader Mayawati that I will resign from the Council on Wednesday,’’said Chaudhary after submitting his papers. Chaudhary had unsuccessfully contested the last Assembly election from Phephna seat of Ballia district.
“I had resigned from Samajwadi Party before the Assembly elections and contested the election on a BSP ticket. So, in any case I had to resign from the membership of legislative Council. In fact, I should have resigned from the membership of the Council soon after I resigned from the SP,‘’ said he.
Soon after the Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party had filed a petition before Chairman of legislative Council Ramesh Yadav seeking Chaudhary’s disqualification from the Council under the Anti-defection law.
Ambika Chaudhary is also a confidant of Mulayam Singh Yadav and was handpicked by Mulayam in 1993 to contest Assembly election from Ballia. He was a minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led government from August 2003 to March 2007. In 2012 Assembly poll, he had lost from Ballia but was nominated to legislative Council and inducted as cabinet minister in Akhilesh Yadav government.
Chaudhary however fell out with Akhilesh. First his portfolio was changed and later he was dropped from the cabinet in October, 2015. He was identified with the Shivpal Yadav camp, when the feud broke out in the first family of Samajwadi Party in September 2016.
On January 1 this year, Akhilesh Yadav took over as national president of the SP. Chaudhary’s name figured in the list of candidates approved by Mulayam Singh /Shivpal Yadav camp but he failed to find favours from Akhilesh Yadav and was denied ticket. later, he joined the BSP along with another SP leader who was also denied ticket for Assembly elections.