About half a dozen Samajwadi Party MLAs, including Shivpal Singh Yadav and Nitin Agarwal, did not attend a crucial meeting convened by the party president Akhilesh Yadav ahead of Rajya Sabha polls on March 23.
About half a dozen Samajwadi Party MLAs, including Shivpal Singh Yadav and Nitin Agarwal, did not attend a crucial meeting convened by the party president Akhilesh Yadav ahead of Rajya Sabha polls on March 23.
Hectic lobbying and dinner diplomacy are on in Uttar Pradesh by the BJP and the Samajwadi Party to keep their flock together and chalk out strategy to win Rajya Sabha polls.
Besides Shivpal and Nitin, those who were conspicuous by their absence at the meeting included Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam Khan, Subhash Pasi Dr Hariom. Party sources claimed that except for Nitin Agarwal, all will be voting for the party candidate Jaya Bachchan or supporting BSP candidate Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.
Azam Khan and his son had informed Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday itself that they won't be able to attend the meeting due to some pressing engagements. Dr Hariom is currently lodged in jail whie Subhash Pasi is on a business tour to Mumbai.
Nitin Agarwal has already announced his vote to the BJP. Though SP claimed that Akhilesh’s estranged uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav has promised to vote to party nominee but he had voted in favour of the BJP’s Ram Nath Kovind during the Presidential elections last year along with three other SP MLAs loyal to him.
The fear of failing to keep the flock together is giving sleepless night to Akhilesh Yadav. The party has serious doubts about Shivpal and his loyal MLAs playing games again to let down his nephew Akhilesh Yadav. Any goof-up will result in the defeat of BSP candidate Dr Bimrao Ambedkar and may jeopardize the BSP-SP future alliance before 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
During the meeting with 41 MLAs, Akhilesh cautioned them about BJP making attempts to buy over their votes for their ninth candidate Anil Agarwal. He also divided party votes among MLAs for clarity on who will vote for party nominee Jaya Bachchan and who will support BSP nominee.
Later, Akhilesh hosted a dinner in which SP, BSP, Congress, RLD and three independents, including Raghuraj Pratap Singh Raja Bhaiyya, were invited to discuss the joint opposition strategy for ensuring the victory of BSP candidate. The Congress (7) and RLD (one) have already announced their support to the BSP while independents remained non-committal.
Significantly, the three independents led by Raj Bhaiyya had supported BJP nominee Ram Nath Kovind during Presidential polls last year.
On the other hand, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also threw a dinner to BJP MLAs and 13 members of BJP allies Suheldev Bhartiya Rajbhar Party (SBSP) and Anurpriya Patel’s Apna Dal to remove their grievances and chalk out a joint strategy to wrest the ninth seat from the BSP.
The Party State President Dr Mahendra Nath Singh, Organizing General Secretary Sunil Bansal and its nine candidates for Rajya Sabha were also present at the meeting. Bansal briefed MLAs about the process of Rajya Sabha polling and how to cast their votes. The votes of the party and its allies will be allotted to all its nine candidates on Thursday.
The Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is learnt to have told MLAs that prestige of party was at stake in Rajya Sabha polls not only to ensure win of eight nominees but also to wrest the ninth seat from the BSP to give the opposition a befitting reply for party’s humiliating defeat in Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-polls.
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