LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said BJP was “following parliamentary traditions” by supporting SP MLA Nitin Agarwal for the post of deputy speaker of the UP assembly.
Yogi made the statement while accompanying Agarwal when the SP MLA went up to file his nomination papers in the assembly.
BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh and cabinet ministers, Brijesh Pathak and Suresh Khanna, were also present on the occasion.
Nitin is the son of SP turncoat and former RS member Naresh Agarwal who switched over to the saffron camp in March 2018 after SP did not nominate him again to the Rajya Sabha and chose cine-star-turned politician Jaya Bachchan over him.
While Nitin technically happens to be with SP, he has been openly hobnobbing with BJP without being expelled from SP. On Sunday, Narendra Verma, another SP MLA, also filed his papers for the deputy speaker’s post, triggereing an “SP versus SP” electoral contest due on Monday.
Yogi maintained that SP, which is the principal opposition party in the state assembly, was not able to announce its candidate on time, which is why BJP decided to support the candidature of Nitin.
Given the strength of BJP in the UP assembly — 304 seats — Nitin will have a cake walk over Verma. The contest also marks BJP’s attempt to consolidate the trader community ahead of the crucial UP polls due in the next few months. SP has fielded Verma, a Kurmi, in what is seen as a deft move to whip up the OBC card to counter BJP.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in UP assembly Ram Govind Chaudhary accused BJP of not following the parliamentary traditions in the election of deputy speaker and causing obstruction in the election of SP candidate Narendra Verma who comes from OBC category.
Yogi made the statement while accompanying Agarwal when the SP MLA went up to file his nomination papers in the assembly.
BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh and cabinet ministers, Brijesh Pathak and Suresh Khanna, were also present on the occasion.
Nitin is the son of SP turncoat and former RS member Naresh Agarwal who switched over to the saffron camp in March 2018 after SP did not nominate him again to the Rajya Sabha and chose cine-star-turned politician Jaya Bachchan over him.
While Nitin technically happens to be with SP, he has been openly hobnobbing with BJP without being expelled from SP. On Sunday, Narendra Verma, another SP MLA, also filed his papers for the deputy speaker’s post, triggereing an “SP versus SP” electoral contest due on Monday.
Yogi maintained that SP, which is the principal opposition party in the state assembly, was not able to announce its candidate on time, which is why BJP decided to support the candidature of Nitin.
Given the strength of BJP in the UP assembly — 304 seats — Nitin will have a cake walk over Verma. The contest also marks BJP’s attempt to consolidate the trader community ahead of the crucial UP polls due in the next few months. SP has fielded Verma, a Kurmi, in what is seen as a deft move to whip up the OBC card to counter BJP.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in UP assembly Ram Govind Chaudhary accused BJP of not following the parliamentary traditions in the election of deputy speaker and causing obstruction in the election of SP candidate Narendra Verma who comes from OBC category.
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