Samajwadi Party insiders view that the party is netting leaders from other parties for their Rajya Sabha dreams. The SP leaders believe that as many as top four leaders, including RLD’s Anuradha Choudhary and Shahid Siddiqui, BSP’s Naresh Agarwal and Muslim Personal Law Board head of Uttar Pradesh Kamal Farooqui, have clearly flocked to fulfil their Rajya Sabha dreams.
While the SP leaders say that party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is clearly aware of the motive of turncoats, all such leaders may not have easy sailing. “Ms Choudhary could not get into the Rajya Sabha after losing the Lok Sabha elections from Kairana, as the tie-up between the RLD-Congress took a long time. The SP may pick her for Rajya Sabha nomination depending on what impact she has on party’s prospect in western UP in the Assembly elections,” said a senior SP functionary.
The Rajya Sabha MP of the BSP Naresh Agarwal had his term expiring in March 2012 and party supremo Mayawati had made her mind not to renominate him again, sources said. The SP leader said that the party offered a better platform to Mr Agarwal to re-enter the Rajya Sabha. In Mr Farooqui, the SP has clearly got a Muslim face along with party general secretary Azam Khan to canvas among the crucial minority voters.
He is being seen within the SP as a clear candidate for Rajya Sabha nomination whenever the time comes, added the party leader.
Mr Siddiqui on the other hand a Rajya Sabha stint when he was in the SP but during the political flux at the time of the trust vote in the Lok Sabha on Indo-US nuclear deal he had walked into the BSP. He was, however, expelled soon from the BSP and stayed in the RLD for about a year before returning back to the SP again.
“Some more leaders of other parties will soon join us. The SP is being seen as a party likely to improve its current strength of 89 MLAs in the Assembly, which will enable the party to send more people in the Rajya Sabha,” added the SP functionary.