In a major setback to the Samajwadi Party, its senior leader Naresh Agarwal on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — a day after Jaya Bachchan was favoured over him for renomination to the Rajya Sabha. Senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal made the announcement at a press conference in New Delhi. Agarwal’s son, Nitin Agarwal, the sitting SP MLA from Hardoi, also defected to the BJP. At the press conference, Naresh Agarwal, who has been Hardoi MLA for seven terms, said he was joining the BJP as “until you are in a national party, you cannot do anything for the society”. He also said he was “impressed” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Targeting Bachchan, who is an actor-turned-politician, Agarwal, controversially, said that “it was even more painful that his ticket has been given to a someone who dances in films”.

In a major setback to the Samajwadi Party, its senior leader Naresh Agarwal on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — a day after Jaya Bachchan was favoured over him for renomination to the Rajya Sabha. Senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal made the announcement at a press conference in New Delhi. Agarwal’s son, Nitin Agarwal, the sitting SP MLA from Hardoi, also defected to the BJP. At the press conference, Naresh Agarwal, who has been Hardoi MLA for seven terms, said he was joining the BJP as “until you are in a national party, you cannot do anything for the society”. He also said he was “impressed” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Targeting Bachchan, who is an actor-turned-politician, Agarwal, controversially, said that “it was even more painful that his ticket has been given to a someone who dances in films”.