‘SP not against Naresh returning to party fold’

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party on Wednesday dropped broad hints that it is not opposed to the idea of veteran politician Naresh Agarwal returning to the party fold if he was facing embarrassment in the BJP and is ready to voice the same.

SP national president Akhilesh Yadav was in Hardoi on Wednesday to attend a private engagement when mediapersons asked about his stance in case Naresh Agarwal, a powerful political figure of Hardoi who had joined the BJP in 2018, wants to return to the SP. He said he would consider his induction in the SP if he says that he has been insulted in the BJP. "The SP has always honoured people," Akhilesh added.

In response to another media query on Agarwal hopping over from one political party to another in order to remain closer to the power, the former UP CM said he is seen as a (political) weather scientist but his radar failed in 2017.

A Rajya Sabha MP in the SP, Naresh Agarwal snapped ties with Akhilesh Yadav and had joined the BJP after he was denied a ticket to biennial elections to the Upper House held in March 2018.

Akhilesh had given a ticket to Jaya Bachchan instead. At that time some senior SP leaders were of the view that in 2017 assembly elections Naresh Agarwal had secretly helped the BJP in and around Hardoi.

While joining the BJP, Naresh Agarwal, who was one of the most vocal SP MPs in Parliament, had not burnt his bridges completely with the SP and went on record to say that he will always remain grateful to SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. However, his comments made in apparent reference to Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan had left the BJP squirming.

Without taking names Naresh Agarwal said he was rejected by the SP leadership for “… those who dance in films, work in films …”. His remarks did not go down well with the BJP and then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj described his comments as “improper and unacceptable”.