BSP leader joins SP; rewarded with assembly poll ticket

Lucknow, Mar 14 (UNI) Former BSP MP Ashok Chandel today joined the ruling Samajwadi Party along with his supporters, while SP nominated him as the party's candidate from Hamirpur in the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly poll.

Addressing a news conference here, SP state unit president Ram Sharan Das said Mr Chandel would strengthen the ruling party in the Bundelkhand region.

Terming it as home coming, Mr Chandel said he left BSP due to regressive BSP policies. ''A party, which humilates its workers and allots tickets for money, is not worth holding on to,'' he noted.

Mr Chandel first became an MLA in 1989 on SP ticket. He won the assembly polls two times before becoming MP in 1999 as a BSP candidate.

UNI