Goyal steps down from Upper House

Goyal,an old warhorse from Kanshiram’s days,is a teacher in Delhi University’s Satyawati College. He is currently on leave. His term as the member of the Legislative Council had ended recently.

Party insiders did not rule out the possibility of Mayawati sending him to the Rajya Sabha.

The election for the Rajya Sabha seat that became vacant after the resignation of former SP leader Banwari Lal Kanchchal is scheduled for June 20. The filing of nomination papers will begin on June 3. Kanchchal had recently resigned from the SP and joined the BSP.

“Both Goyal and Kanchchal belong to the Vaishya community. Now the CM has another option for the seat,” said a source in the BSP.

The party is in position to send one more member to the Rajya Sabha in the near future. Rajya Sabha member,BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi’s seat fell vacant after went on to win the Lok Sabha poll from Varanasi.

Goyal said he has resigned “purely on personal grounds”. He had met the Chief Minister on Wednesday to convey the decision.

“I expressed my gratitude to her for nominating me for the second consecutive term to the House,” Goyal said.

He,however,refused to disclose his future plan. “I am a committed soldier of Behanji’s mission. Whatever responsibility she assigns to me,I will carry out. I want to dedicate my time for the organisation,” he said.

Goyal’s resignation has also given a fresh chance to BSP state president Swami Prasad Maurya to enter the legislative council again. His term had ended a few months ago. Since he is member of neither House,he had to resign from the ministry two days ago. “Maurya is a good orator. His absence in the Legislative Council is not good for the party,” said a source in the BSP.

There is also talk of the party fielding Maurya from Padrauna assembly seat,which has been vacated by Congress parliamentarian RPN Singh,who has been made a minister in the Union government.

The UP Legislative Council’s total strength is 100. After the nomination of eight new MLCs,the BSP strength is now 21. The SP has 35 members while the BJP has 17. The strength of the RLD and the Congress is five and three respectively.

Besides,the House has nine members who are elected from the teachers’ constituencies. The number of Independent MLCs is five.

Three seats have fallen vacant after the resignation of the Surendra Nagar,Ganesh Shankar Pandey and Ghanshyam Lodhi — all from the local bodies’ constituency.

While Nagar has won the Lok Sabha election from Gautam Budh Nagar as the BSP candidate,Pandey and Lodhi lost in Maharajganj and Rampur as BSP candidates. Pandey had come to BSP from the SP and Lodhi from the BJP.

The eight new members are Vinay Shakya,Kamla Kant Gautam,Dr Meghraj Singh,M L Tomar,Naushad Ali,Ramchandra Pradhan,Dr Gopal Narayan Mishra and Mangal Singh Saini.

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