Former UP minister defects from BJP to BSP

AGRA: Ram Babu Harit, a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister in Uttar Pradesh and three-time legislator, has shifted to the state's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in an apparent move to be its nominee from Agra during the next poll.

He accepted the party membership Friday evening in the prsence of senior BSP leaders including the national general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui, S.P. Singh Baghael, Ram Vir Upadhyaya, and Narayan Singh Suman.

Harit started his political career in 1988 after winning the a municipal corporation election here on a BSP ticket. He later defected to the BJP which made him the state's health minister.

With the Agra city seat being declared reserved, the candidature of Harit, a dalit, could prove valuable for the BSP.

BJP circles in Agra called his defection opportunistic and denied it would impact the party's prospects in the coming Lok Sabha polls.