By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
National President of Bharatiya Janata Party Amit Shah is on a nationwide tour, and in the first phase, he landed in Lucknow on Saturday. But the biggest impact, or rather the shock of Shah’s Lucknow visit was felt by the Samajwadi Party, whose three MLCs resigned from their posts.
The SP MLCs, namely Yashwant Singh and Bukkal Nawab, have vacated their seats just as BJP was trying to find ways to fit the state’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and four other ministers either in state assembly or in the councils. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya is among them.
Prior to the resignations of Singh and Nawab, it was already being speculated that few council members from opposition parties may resign. These MLCs have already revolted in the past from Samajwadi Party. While talking with the media, Bukkal Nawab said, “We were being tortured since last one year. Akhilesh Yadav did not ask for our well-being even for once.”
Bukkal also praised PM Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath, which has of course been seen as a sign of his enlistment under BJP. One more MLC from Bahujan Samaj Party, Jaiveer Singh vacated his post today, which has also brought a storm in the BSP camp of the state.
When asked about this major shuffle in UP, Health Minister of the state Siddharth Nath Singh told ANI, “Only Akhilesh Yadav can answer why his council members are resigning.”
Sources have informed that resigning MLCs have been promised prominent positions in the state’s political setup, which is yet not confirmed.
In his three-day tour, Amit Shah is also likely to finalise a new state president for BJP in Uttar Pradesh as the current president Keshav Prasad Maurya is already occupied with one position of deputy CM. Prior to this political shuffle, SP held 66 out of 100 council members. Now SP has slid to 63 with BJP has eight MLCs.
UPDATE : MLC Madhukar Jaitley has not resigned from his post, rather he is sitting on fence creating atmosphere that he may resign anytime soon.