Another RLD MP all set to join SP

“I am ready to join the SP. I am waiting for a signal from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The moment he gives the order,I will join the SP,” Nagpal told The Indian Express.

SP’s state spokesperson Rajendra Choudhary said Nagpal is in touch with “the party’s national leadership”,though his entry has not been finalised officially.

Nagpal’s brother Harish had won the Amroha parliamentary seat in 2004. Nagpal himself had been an independent MLA in 2002 and joined the RLD before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. His wife Anshu unsuccessfully contested the 2012 Assembly elections on a RLD ticket from Naugawa Saadat in Amroha district.

However,Nagpal may not contest the next Lok Sabha election from Amroha,as the SP has already declared Humaira Akhtar,wife of Minister of Panchayati Raj Kamal Akhtar,as its candidate from Amroha.

“Positions and political achievements do not matter. My sole concern is social service which can be done without any post,” Nagpal stated.

Sources said that Nagpal is eyeing the Ghaziabad parliamentary seat. “I will abide by the directions of the SP. If they give me any responsibility,I will try to fulfil it,” he added.

He alleged that the RLD has become directionless. “I had urged party chief Ajit Singh to resign from the Union cabinet as the party was losing support,but he refused. Nothing has been done for the benefit of the people by the RLD,” he said.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh is finding it hard to keep his flock together from the onslaught of the SP. His aide and former minister Anuradha Choudhary had deserted him at the time of the Assembly elections and joined the SP which has now rewarded him with a party ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election from Bijnore,a seat currently held by RLD MP Sanjay Chauhan.

In an attempt to damage Ajit Singh in his pocket borrough Baghpat,the SP has decided to field former Union minister Sompal Shastri who had defeated Singh in 1998. The SP had made its intention clear in June 2012 when it fielded Sanjay Lathar in Mant Assembly bypoll. The vacancy was caused due to the resignation of Singh’s son Jayant Choudhary. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had taken keen interest in the bypoll. Though,Lathar lost the election,the division of Jat votes ensured that RLD candidate Yogesh Choudhary lost too.