By IANS,
Lucknow : Within hours of former Samajwadi Party (SP) minister Naresh Agarwal quitting the party Saturday, a close confidante of former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav gave indications that he would follow suit.
Dhaniram Verma, SP legislator from Vidhuna constituency in Auraiyya district, told IANS that he had serious differences with Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is the party chief, over the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat.
“I wish my son contests from the seat, but Netaji (Yadav) is not ready,” he said.
He said: “I have not quit the SP so far. Wait till May 27 to know about my next move.”
Sources said that Verma already had talks with the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party and his son Mahesh Verma was likely to be made the BSP’s candidate for the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat.
Earlier, Agarwal quit the party Saturday alleging it was no longer led by Mulayam Singh Yadav but by its general secretary Amar Singh.
Agarwal told reporters that he “was feeling strangulated in the party” because it was no longer wedded to its socialist credentials and had become an “elitist party of film stars and power brokers”.
At least a dozen prominent SP leaders have quit the party during the last one year to join the BSP.