Three Samajwadi Party MLCs Meet UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Fuel Reports Of Joining BJP

Giving rise to the speculations of their defection to BJP, three Samajwadi Party MLCs on Wednesday met Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow. The leaders who met CM Adityanath are Hamirpur MLC Ramesh Mishra, Ballia MLC Ravi Shankar Singh and Maharajganj MLC CP Chand. Speculations are rife that many MLCs can resign from the Samajwadi party and join the Saffron-bloc in the state. The BJP, on the other hand, seeks to increase its strength in the state assembly in order to ensure smooth passage of long-pending bills. 

The defection, if takes place, will be a blow to the SP and will come against the backdrop of party’s weakening grip in the state.

Currently, Akhilesh Yadav-led SP is the largest party with 55 members in the state legislative council. The BJP which ranks second has 21 MLCs while BSP has 8 MLCs. 

The BJP aims to reduce SP’s number in the Legislative Council as passage of many pending bills will become easy for it. 
Recently, former Samajwadi Party MPs Sanjay Seth and Surendra Singh Nagar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of senior party leader Bhupendra Yadav and its media head Anil Baluni in New Delhi. 

Soon after being inducted into the Saffron fold, both Nagar and Seth hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and lauded his government's decision to scrap the provisions of Article 370 to end Jammu and Kashmir's special status in the Constitution.