Former Samajwadi Party MP Neeraj Shekhar joins BJP

New Delhi:  A day after he quit the Samajwadi Party (SP), Neeraj Shekhar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party general secretaries Bhupendra Yadav and Anil Jain. The development came hours after Shekhar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday morning.

He had met Home Minister Amit Shah and the top BJP leadership on Monday evening. In the morning, he was also spotted with Minister of State (Finance) Anurag Thakur in Parliament.

Son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, Neeraj Shekhar had resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Monday. Sources said the BJP might nominate him to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu announced Neeraj Shekhar’s resignation, which has been accepted, in the House. His resignation comes a year ahead of the end of his Rajya Sabha term — in November next year.

After his resignation, fresh election will be held to his seat in the Upper House. The BJP with its huge majority in Uttar Pradesh would be able to secure a comfortable win and add to its Rajya Sabha tally, where the NDA is in a minority.

Sources said Neeraj Shekhar was upset with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav after he was denied ticket from his family’s traditional seat, Ballia, during the Lok Sabha elections. He had won the seat in 2007 and 2009, but lost in 2014, after which the SP sent him to the Rajya Sabha.

With his resignation, the SP is left with just nine parliamentarians in the Upper House.

 Published on: July 16, 2019 at 18:22 IST

IANS