Samajwadi Party's Naresh Agrawal joins BJP

Agrawal's move comes days after the Samajwadi Party decided to name veteran actress and parliamentarian Jaya Bachchan as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

Naresh Agrawal, who was in the Samajwadi Party earlier, on Monday, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Naresh Agrawal was a prominent Samajwadi Party leader who has represented Hardoi constituency seven times. Agrawal joined BJP in presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal at BJP headquarters in Delhi.

Agrawal's move comes days after the Samajwadi Party decided to name veteran actress and parliamentarian Jaya Bachchan as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

Bachchan's third term in the Upper House comes to an end on April 3. Speaking on the development, MP Amar Singh had supported Jaya's candidature over Aggarwal.

Agrawal was an MLA for seven terms from 1980 to 2012 except 1985 to 1989. As an MLA, he represented the Hardoi constituency and is a member of the Samajwadi Party political party. Till 1989, he was a member of Indian National Congress.

He was also Minister of Tourism in Mulayam Singh Yadav Government from 2003 to 2004. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in March 2010 and resigned in March 2012. He was elected again in 2012 from SP.

Rajya Sabha elections for 10 Uttar Pradesh seats are scheduled for March 23.

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