Summary:
Lucknow, Jan 19 (PTI) Samajwadi Party MLA Nitin Agarwal, elected as Uttar Pradesh assembly deputy speaker with the BJP support, and another SP MLA resigned from their party on Wednesday.
UP Deputy Speaker Agarwal, an SP MLA from Hardoi Sadar assembly seat said he has also resigned as deputy speaker of the House.
Besides Agarwal, SP MLA Sharadveer Singh from Jalalabad assembly segment in Shahjahanpur district too resigned from the party, saying the SP has deviated from its ideology and he will now work for the victory of the BJP.
In a news conference in Lucknow, Agarwal said, "I have sent my resignation from the SP to its national president Akhilesh Yadav.
I have also resigned from the assembly membership and the post of its deputy speaker." After his election as UP assembly deputy speaker with the BJP support, Agarwal had not joined the party formally and was still an SP MLA technically.
Agarwal, who earlier shared the dais with Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the BJP’s Jan Vishwas rally, is likely to contest the assembly polls from his Hardoi Sadar seat on a BJP ticket.